For residents of eight modest houses on a lone block in Wilmington, a replacement bridge and truck expressway planned for construction nearby means a slightly elevated cancer risk.
The government agency that used computer modeling to assess this risk has proposed a solution: new air-conditioning filters to remove the project's toxic emissions.
"Installing and retrofitting ventilation systems with special filters is a proactive way in which we can mitigate against any potential effects of the proposed project," said David Gershwin, a spokesman for the Alameda Corridor Transportation Authority.
The situation on East Robidoux Street came to light with the release of the Transportation Authority's 600-page report on its planned $687-million Schuyler Heim Bridge Replacement and State Route 47 Expressway Project, a joint effort with Caltrans. Transportation officials are counting on the project to reduce traffic and pollution from trucks heading to and from the Los Angeles-Long Beach port complex, the nation's largest.
The news has upset residents and raised new questions about future stability in a place long decried by social justice groups as a "sacrifice zone" of commerce and toxic pollution.
"I'm not happy about this, and I'm very worried about what it means for my two young children and the value of our home," said Rosario Esparza, 37, speaking over a white wrought-iron gate at her home of nine years.
"We were just planning to move and lease the house," added Esparza, whose home is among those identified as facing a heightened cancer risk. "I'm going to talk to my husband about moving out faster."
Two doors down, Jesus and Theresa Fernandez, both 74, were stunned to learn that their home of 33 years was among those expected to experience elevated levels of cancer risk.
"Why our house? Who'd want to buy it now?" Theresa wondered aloud in Spanish. "Doesn't the same air cover the entire neighborhood?"
The impact zone includes the eight homes on the north side of the 1500 block of East Robidoux Street. Also included is a lone house in Carson, a few miles away, but officials declined to provide an address, citing privacy reasons.
Officials said the risk of cancer in these hot spots would increase by 1%.
Computer models of projected diesel truck traffic and prevailing winds showed "a 10 in a million cancer risk for a person who lives in the impact zone if that person is exposed 350 of 365 days a year, 24 hours a day for 70 years," said John Doherty, chief executive of the Transportation Authority.
