Highway Widening Chief Abdollah Ansari Has Left Metro – la.streetsblog.org

By Joe Linton
Abdollah Ansari, Metro’s Senior Executive Officer for Construction and Engineering, abruptly left Metro last week. Ansari was the head of Metro Highway Program. In recent years, Ansari was one of the agency’s most rigidly pro-freeway and pro-car-capacity leaders.
Streetsblog made inquiries to Metro regarding Ansari five days ago, but has yet to receive the statement that a Metro spokesperson said was forthcoming. If any further information is received, this post will be updated.
In recent years, Ansari’s steadfast commitment to widening freeways/ramps/roads set up clashes with environmentalists, public commenters, cities, Councils of Governments, Caltrans, the federal Environmental Protection Agency, and some Metro boardmembers.
Notably, during the board’s discussion on suspending the 710 Freeway widening last May, Ansari clashed with L.A. County Supervisor (and now Metro Board Chair) Hilda Solis