Driven Apart: Community Displacement Along the Century/105 Freeway Main Menu Introduction A Legacy of Displacement in Los Angeles Navigating the Century Freeway: Origins, Opposition, and Route Controversies Class Action Lawsuit & The 1972 Shutdown A Community Splintered: Abandoned Homes, Vandalism, and Crime Judge Harry Pregerson and the Consent Decree Conclusion: "The Last Freeway" Century Freeway Records at USC Special Collections Acknowledgements

Deciding on a Route: Residents Push Back

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https://digitallibrary.usc.edu/asset-management/2A3BF1M1235HO

In the cities surrounding the proposed routes for Century (including Willowbrook, Hawthorne, Norwalk, Compton, South Gate, Lynwood, Bellflower, Santa Fe Springs), residents generally favored routes that bypassed their communities. Tension escalated as the state continued acquiring homes to clear the path for the freeway. By this point, the project had already garnered significant negative attention, particularly due to the conduct of the right-of-way agents from Caltrans. Residents who were interviewed in newspapers alleged that these agents overstepped boundaries, resorting to intimidation tactics and fabricating false information about whom residents claimed were acting out of line, threatening residents, and coercing compliance with right-of-way regulations along the corridor.