Caltrans wants to improve two Highway 99 interchanges south of Fresno, but social justice activists say the state’s transportation agency failed to adequately consider nearby residents in its environmental review.

Friends of Calwa, Inc., and Fresno Building Healthy Communities sued Caltrans, asking the court to decertify the environmental impact report and effectively halt the project. On Friday, the case was argued in court.

The groups argued that improved interchanges would spur more industrial development and increase pollution in south Fresno.

After a two-hour hearing, Fresno County Superior Court Judge Geoffrey Wilson took the matter under advisement and has 90 days to issue a ruling.

Several community members attended the hearing at the main Fresno County courthouse in downtown Fresno.

“We are encouraged by the opportunity to stand up for our communities,” said Sandra Celedon, president and CEO of Fresno Building Healthy Communities.

Celedon is also involved with Friends of Calwa and is running for the state Assembly.

“We hope Caltrans will reconsider its decision to push more pollution into our neighborhoods,” Celedon said.

Asked as an aspiring lawmaker where truck traffic and industrial parks should be located, Celedon said there needs to be a “balanced approach” throughout the city.

“We really need to make sure we’re not overburdening one community with industrial pollution or creating conditions that cut people’s lives short,” Celedon said.

Highway 99 Interchange Improvements

Caltrans plans to expand the Highway 99 interchanges at American Avenue and North Avenue in south Fresno from half-interchanges to full interchanges. The $146 million project is scheduled to begin in September 2028 and be completed by March 2031.

The project would permanently close the Cedar Avenue interchange.

In court, attorneys for the petitioners said Caltrans’ environmental reports “fell egregiously short.”

Caltrans failed to account for thousands of residents who live in the area, as well as a proposed industrial campus, in its environmental impact report, attorneys for the petitioners argued.

Student attorney Thomas Peterson, with Yale Law School and representing the Fresno groups, said residents of Calwa and Malaga “are systematically erased and ignored” in the environmental review.

Attorneys argued the environmental impact report failed to meet California Environmental Quality Act requirements and that Caltrans also committed procedural errors.

The EIR, Peterson said, failed to disclose that about 1,000 residents live in the area and claimed there were no sensitive land uses nearby.

“Those claims are just not true,” Peterson said.

Upgrading the interchanges would generate an estimated 2 million additional truck trips per year in south Fresno and increase pollution by 854%, according to the petitioners’ brief.

Robert Vaghini, a Caltrans attorney, responded that the interchange improvement is “not a massive project” and that Caltrans properly conducted its environmental review.

He said the interchanges need to be updated for safety, noting in a brief that they have remained largely unchanged since before the moon landing in 1969.

There was also debate over how close the Fresno County Juvenile Justice Campus is to the interchange project. The campus is south of the American Avenue exit, and petitioners challenged Caltrans’ method of measuring whether it was within 500 feet of the project.

A Google Maps tool shows the distance between the closest campus building and the American Avenue off-ramp is approximately 800 feet.

The future of industrial parks was also central to the debate. Petitioners argued the new interchanges would lead to more industrial development and increased pollution.

Caltrans countered that it has no authority over land-use decisions, only the interchanges themselves. Any concerns about industrial parks would need to be addressed with Fresno County, Vaghini said.

“We don’t seek to harm people,” Caltrans attorney Paul Brown said.

Federal Lawsuit Still Active

Friends of Calwa, Inc., and Fresno Building Healthy Communities first filed the lawsuit in federal court in March 2023. It named both federal and state transportation agencies as defendants.

In October 2023, the federal court granted Caltrans’ motion to dismiss because of jurisdictional issues. The plaintiffs then filed a parallel lawsuit against Caltrans in Fresno County Superior Court.

Motions in the federal case, in which the U.S. Department of Transportation is still a defendant, are pending. The next hearing has not been set.

Stephanie Safdi, a law professor at Yale University, oversaw the students from the Yale Environmental Justice Law and Advocacy Clinic during Friday’s hearing. She specializes in environmental law.