With only about 50' of guard rail near the freeway signs (in the above photo), neighbors don't want to let their kids play out in the street after CalTrans cut down trees since the Silver Lake Fire. Neighbors directly across the street from the southbound lanes of the 2 Freeway, are asking for a sound wall and trees. The 50+ year old Eucalyptus trees (the pile of trees in the above photo) did prevent more than one car from flying off the southbound lanes of the 2 Freeway in 2015.
Last month, a CalTrans representative told me the vegetation along our portion of the 2 Freeway was originally planted for erosion control on the steep slope. He said trees on the freeway do not block sound, clean the air nor serve a safety purpose.
Worth noting in both of these photos is the scale of the cut wood, trees and retaining walls in relationship with the workers, heavy equipment and trucks. There are only 8 houses on this part of Corralitas Drive. Six homes lost a bucolic view when the freeway was built in 1960. (Two homes were built in the last decade.)
CBS Los Angeles posted a collection of photos from the Silver Lake Fire by photographer Matt Hartman, Shorealone Films. The photos primarily show the 2 Freeway on fire.
