Lots of new homes are being built all over San Diego County, and a large portion of them are near freeways.
Between 2018 and 2024, roughly one fifth of permits for new homes in San Diego County were within 1,000 feet of a freeway.
An analysis of state housing data by KPBS and Voice of San Diego shows the fastest growth in housing is happening in the urban core, which includes Downtown, Bankers Hill, Hillcrest and North Park. These are places that have lots of jobs and amenities, and are near transit.
This story was first published by KPBS. It’s part of our In Whose Backyard series which looks at where homes are being built and how that impacts the surrounding communities. Read more stories in the series here.
But there are also several freeways that carve paths through those areas, creating a lot of noise and a ton of pollution.
More than 96,000 housing permits were issued in the county between 2018 and 2024, according to the data. Almost 19,000 of them were for homes within 1,000 feet of an interstate or state highway.
“The noise is always there. I think we’ve just found a way of getting used to it,” said Jolene Miller. She lives next to the interchange of I-8 and I-15 in Mission Valley.
Even when she’s in her house, Miller said she can always hear the constant hum of the freeways. And it’s not just the noise.
“You can wipe your little table down on the patio every day, and it’s going to come out black every day,” Miller said. “So that (pollution that’s) coming through our windows, is coming into our lungs.”
Research from UC Davis shows the impact pollution from vehicle traffic has on air quality in nearby homes. The report found exposure to roadway pollution increases the risk of multiple health conditions, including cardiovascular, respiratory and reproductive conditions for people who live within 500 to 600 feet of a freeway.
More than 7,000 permits were issued just within 500 feet of San Diego’s highways from 2018 to 2024.
Research from UC San Diego also links air pollution to infant mortality and the risk of dementia.
And UCLA research found that freeway pollution can travel as much as a mile away from the source.
“It’s surprising how … if you were 500 feet from a freeway downwind, how much indoor pollution this causes,” said Chris Roberts from the environmental advocacy group San Diego 350. “And it’s linked to bad health outcomes, respiratory disease and cardiovascular disease and overall mortality.”
The health risks of living near a freeway aren’t exactly news. As far back as 2007, city leaders and planners were considering the impacts highway air pollution could have on new homes proposed in Otay Mesa.
But because of the extensive low-density zoning in the region, the only places where apartments are even legal are often right next to a freeway.
The priority is building homes to address the housing crisis, even if that means adding developments near freeways, said San Diego City Councilmember Stephen Whitburn (District 3).
He represents many of the urban core neighborhoods that have a lot of new homes and a lot of highways. Interstates 5, 8 and 15, and State Routes 94 and 163 all run through or border District 3, and three of them converge right in the downtown area.
Whitburn said that he hasn’t heard complaints from his constituents about air pollution.
“Certainly I could appreciate the concerns about having housing adjacent to a freeway or a truck corridor,” Whitburn said. “You certainly want to have residents living in an environment in which it is healthy.”
He said it’s important to build more homes to stabilize or even decrease rents. Between 2018 and 2024, there were more homes permitted in the downtown 92101 ZIP code than any other in San Diego County. This ZIP code had the lowest rental growth rate in that time, according to Zillow data.
In that time, the ZIP codes in San Diego County where more homes were permitted have seen slower rent growth than those that permitted the fewest.
So, in places like District 3, there’s a balancing act. City leaders are trying to address a housing crisis with new construction, while remaining conscious of the impacts proximity to pollution can have on residents.
Miller said she started taking allergy pills, something she’s never had to do before moving so close to the freeway.
“I can’t wait to leave,” Miller said.