When the 101 freeway was built it cut our neighborhood in half creating many dark and unappealing spaces. In addition, the freeway causes pollution that, research has proven, results in asthma and cancer deaths to residents living up to a mile away.
The soil quality around highways is notoriously polluted. Lead has collected in highway embankments from the years of leaded gasoline. Underpasses with interior dirt banks collect toxins while wind from cars and buses picks up the soil and carries it into homes and yards in the vicinity. A highway underpass could be considered a collector and distributor of dangerous toxins.
