From LA.Streetsblog.org
Last Wednesday’s groundbreaking for the 5.5-mile Rail-to-Rail walk/bike path that will run between Metro rail stations at Crenshaw and Long Beach Blvd. along the blighted Slauson rail right-of-way (ROW) was long overdue.
Construction on the path, which will feature shade trees, drought-tolerant landscaping, lighting, improvements at bus stops, and improved crossings at intersections (seen above), was originally expected to have begun in 2018.
But as many of the area’s representatives noted during their celebratory remarks, they had been waiting for something to happen along the corridor for much longer than that.
It was nearly thirty years ago, while serving as Executive Director of the California Black Women’s Health Project (CBWHP), that current County Supervisor and Metro Boardmember Holly Mitchell said she had first been approached by residents about the possibility of a rails-to-trails project for the corridor.
The women that came into her office were concerned about how Black women’s disproportionate experience with obesity and asthma was being compounded by the lack of access to gyms or outdoor spaces where they could exercise.
“I will never forget the residents of that housing development [at 49th and] Central Avenue [where CBWHP was located] who told me quite frankly, ‘You want me to walk. But it is less safe for me to walk the streets in my neighborhood than to sit at home waiting for a heart attack to happen,’” Mitchell recalled.
The fact that that state of affairs remains a “harsh reality for far too many Angelenos” meant this project was “a dream deferred for far too long,” she said
Image Source: Metro
