Julie Corrales, a poet, community activist, and mother of 2, lives in a historic home in the Barrio Logan community of San Diego. She settled her family in the cute blue house on a street close to Perkins elementary school, a street on which trucks over 5 tons are banned. Julie was startled to be awakened one night by trucks driving down her street and idling in the alley next to her house. Web cameras installed by EHC show trucks passing her home many times a day.

 

Barrio Logan and West National City are adjacent to Port cargo terminals, freeways, waterfront industry, and a BNSF railyard. Many businesses within these mixed-use communities generate truck traffic in the form of delivery trucks. All these sources of diesel pollution affect air quality and health in these communities.

Both communities also rank high on the CalEnviroScreen overall and for diesel. Barrio Logan, in fact, ranks in the top 5% statewide on the CalEnviroScreen diesel indicator and the asthma indicator as well.

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(Heavy-duty truck parked in front of Perkins Elementary School in Barrio Logan)


EHC and our community leaders are doing everything we can locally to reduce truck impacts:

  • Working with the City to establish and enforce truck routes
  • Working with the Port to educate truck drivers on the new route
  • Working through the Portside communities Clean Air Protection Program (AB 617) to incentivize cleaner trucks in our communities
  • Pursuing a decades-long effort to reform the land use plans in these communities to better separate industrial from residential land uses

However, local efforts cannot compel a faster industrywide shift to electric trucks and away from diesel. We need action at the state level to require zero- emission trucks in California at the earliest possible date.

We join clean freight activists throughout California in asking the California Air Resources Board (CARB) to adopt an Advanced Clean Truck (ACT) rule that will result in 15% of heavy-duty trucks on the roads by 2030 being zero emission. The currently proposed rule will result in only 4% Zero Emission Vehicle (ZEV) trucks on the road by 2030. We need a stronger rule now!

We know a faster shift to ZEV is feasible. A large number of the truck traffic going through and around our portside communities consists of trucks visiting the Port’s cargo terminals. A Port estimate from a year ago is that about 28% of the total Port-related truck trips are 50 miles or less. Another large percentage travels routes of less than 200 miles, to the Los Angeles-Long Beach area or up to the San Bernardino area. Electric trucks that can drive these distances already exist, and are being deployed in demonstration projects today. It is important to make sure they are fully commercialized and available to truck fleets to purchase over the next decade.

Cleaner air, faster, will be good for the entire state of California – and for our ailing planet, in desperate need of reduced greenhouse gas assaults. It will be especially beneficial for Julie Corrales, her children, and other residents of communities most impacted by diesel pollution in California.

We call on CARB to adopt a strong ACT rule.

 

On December 10, 2018, San Diego City Council unanimously passed a resolution prohibiting heavy-duty commercial truck traffic on Barrio Logan residential streets. The resolution resulted in some new signage installations but there has been little enforcement by the San Diego Police Department (SDPD).

Prohibited truck traffic continues unabated on residential streets in Barrio Logan, putting families and residents in harm’s way. On August 9, 2019, a non-compliant heavy-duty truck traveling on Main Street lost control crashing into power lines and fire hydrants.  The truck burst into flames and came to rest just a few feet from a home with children sleeping inside.

As of October 23, 2019, SDPD has only issued 49 citations to non-complaint trucks this year.  EHC and Barrio Logan residents are discouraged and outraged by the lack of truck route enforcement. EHC representatives and residents voiced their concerns and demands at the October 16, 2019 Barrio Logan Planning Group meeting, and again at the October 23, 2019 Public Safety and Livable Neighborhoods Committee meeting. At both meetings, EHC staff shared recent video footage of non-complaint trucks on residential streets and presented specific enforcement actions the SDPD can take. 

 

EHC has written a formal letter to San Diego City Councilmember Vivian Moreno asking for three specific actions:

  • Provide consistent monitoring
  • Educate truckers
  • Issue citations

Councilmembers Moreno and Montgomery expressed strong concerns at the Council Committee meeting.  CM Moreno asked SDPD to make monthly reports on citations issued to the planning group and to use the locations and times provided by EHC to develop a monitoring program.

 MEDIA COVERAGE

 WHAT CAN YOU DO?

Send signed petitions to Jorge Gonzales:This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or contact him at (510) 559-0978 for more information.

 

Trucks on Boston


On August 9, 2019, a heavy-duty diesel truck crashed in Barrio Logan on a block with homes and businesses.

It burst into flames directly in front of a home!

The truck was not following the approved route (see reverse) in violation of the 2018 resolution passed by the San Diego City Council. Violations of the resolution happen every day putting families and children in harms way. These trucks don’t belong on our streets!

READ OUR PRESS RELEASE

DOWNLOAD OUR PETITION

DOWNLOAD INFORMATIONAL HANDOUT

REPORT A VIOLATION

When you see a prohibited truck violating the law, call the SDPD non-emergency line at (619) 531-2000 and provide the following information:

  • Date and time of violation
  • Location (cross streets or address)
  • License plate number and state
  • Company name and other details

For more information contact Jorge at (510) 559-0978 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

UPDATE: Join Jorge this week to take action! Click the link below to learn more.

WHERE:
Por Vida Cafe
2146 Logan Ave
San Diego, CA 92113

WHEN:
Wednesday, October 9, 2019
2:00pm to 4:00pm

Thursday, October 10, 2019
10am to 12:30pm

Wednesday, October 16, 2019
11:30am to 2:30pm

 

In December 2018, San Diego City Council adopted an EHC-supported resolution that directs heavy-duty diesel trucks to use Harbor Drive as the designated truck route to avoid passing through Barrio Logan residential areas and accessing the freeways.

Enforcement is the key to ensuring that heavy-duty trucks do not pollute streets where people live, learn and play.

EHC applauds the City of San Diego for posting new truck route signs on Harbor Drive, as well as signs that identify Barrio Logan streets where trucks are now prohibited. We urge the city to continue implementing the resolution with enhanced police enforcement, community input, and a full audit of older, faded truck signs.

The San Diego Police department welcomes community input and feedback on the new truck signs and route enforcement efforts at their monthly meetings:

Central Division Community Meetings

Captains Advisory Board Meetings
Meetings are held at 6PM every 4th Thurday.

2501 Imperial Avenue
San Diego, CA 92102

BL Truck Signs 02 Small

Wayfinding signs on Harbor Drive and 32nd Street signaling freeway access outside of the core of Barrio Logan

 

BL Truck Signs 01 Small

 Wayfinding signs on Harbor Drive along the truck route. These signs are larger and easily visible by truck operators.

 

BL Truck Signs 03 Small

Wayfinding sign on Cesar Chavez and Harbor Drive signaling the truck route for trucks leaving the Port of San Diego.

We recently celebrated a major victory for clean air and public health in Barrio Logan. We applaud the City of San Diego Environment Committee, led by David Alvarez, for unanimously passing the Barrio Logan Clean Air and Safe Streets Ordinance.

As it moves through the city review process, allow us to expain to you how this ordinance came to be and why it matters to our community.

barrio live EHC

A Summary: 

The presence of heavy-duty truck traffic in Barrio Logan has become commonplace in our community and has negatively affected our quality of life for many years. Perkins Elementary School, for example, faces daily exposure to harmful air emissions from diesel trucks, noise and safety concerns. 

EHC recommends adoption of the Barrio Logan Clean Air and Safe Streets Ordinance to ensure that Barrio Logan residents can live, work and play in a safe environment.

Current Conditions:

Current policy to address heavy-duty vehicle traffic in Barrio Logan has been helpful but now warrants an update. Right now, the policy does not prohibit truck traffic on all of the streets necessary, especially near schools, senior residential living centers, and residential uses, nor does it address enforcement through fines and/or penalties. Our community has understood the need to amend this in order to mitigate the ever-increasing volume of heavy-duty vehicle traffic in the region. 

barrio logan calenviroscreen UT san diego

Community Research: 

Boston Avenue between 28th and 32nd Street is zoned as exclusively residential and is the only such zone in Barrio Logan. Residents of Boston Avenue participated in community research by conducting truck surveys, which yielded striking results -- including the documentation of up to 59 heavy-duty vehicles within a two-hour period.

The community research demonstrates the different sources of heavy-duty vehicles entering and exiting through Barrio Logan. Air samples taken during these surveys also indicate spikes in ultra-fine particulate matter -- a chemical found in diesel exhaust that is linked to serious health effects -- as trucks drove by the survey area.

Key Findings from other Port Cities:

  • Oakland, Long Beach, and Los Angeles establish truck routes in their municipal codes
  • These cities also include an extensive list of prohibited streets
  • Truck routes maps are readily available via city website (interactive maps, pdf, etc.)

A Barrio Logan of Freeways

EHC Recommends:

The Barrio Logan Clean Air and Safe Streets Ordinance will provide ways to mitigate the impacts of diesel exhaust in and around our community, making it a healthier and safer neighborhood for all people to live, work and play.

Trucks serving local businesses are excluded from these recommendations:

  • Creation and implementation of a truck route in Barrio Logan
  • Amendment of the Commercial Vehicle Prohibition Resolution to include all streets not on the truck route
  • Clear path for enforcement including fines and penalties for those violating the truck route

For questions regarding the Barrio Logan Clean Air and Safe Streets Ordinance, please contact Jerry at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.