If Costco Was Paused for CEQA Violations, Why Not South Fresno’s Mega Freeway Project?
Both projects face legal challenges rooted in the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). Friends of Calwa and Fresno Building Healthy Communities recently filed their opening brief on the CEQA merits, which will be argued before the Fresno Superior Court on January 9, 2026.
In the Costco case, the court ruled that the City of Fresno failed to follow state environmental law. Community leaders argue that the same is true (if not more severe) for the mega freeway expansion project in South Fresno led by Caltrans and the Federal Highway Administration. If one is put on hold, the other should be too.
What Happened with Costco
On July 17, Fresno County Superior Court Judge Jonathan Skiles ruled that the City of Fresno violated CEQA when it approved a proposed 219,000-square-foot Costco warehouse on the northeast corner of Herndon Avenue and Riverside Drive. The court found two major flaws: the city relied on a 2014 climate action plan rather than comparing vehicle emissions to an updated 2021 plan, and it approved a large “last mile” delivery warehouse within a commercial zone without proper zoning authorization or environmental review.
The court issued a writ of mandate blocking any further approvals for the project until the city completes a revised Environmental Impact Report (EIR) and corrects the legal deficiencies.
The decision was celebrated by environmental advocates as a clear sign that cities must follow the law when approving large-scale development, especially when those developments carry significant environmental and community impacts.
South Fresno: A Similar Story with Higher Stakes
Roughly 12 miles south of the Costco site, Caltrans and the Federal Highway Administration are pushing a plan, against community opposition, to widen interchanges at American Avenue and North Avenue along State Route 99. The project is directly tied to a planned 2,940-acre industrial park that would add up to 19 million square feet of warehouses and generate between 4-17 million diesel truck trips annually.
The industrial park (and its pollution) was never included in Caltrans and the Federal Highway Administration’s environmental analysis.
Fresno Building Healthy Communities and Friends of Calwa filed a lawsuit in 2023, arguing that Caltrans and the Federal Highway Administration’s violated the law by ignoring the public health impacts the mega freeway expansion poses to the surrounding communities and failed to properly analyze health and air quality impacts while omitting the true scope of the project, a direct violation of CEQA. In their original filing, Caltrans and the Federal Highway Administration claimed there were “no nearby neighborhoods,” even though the interchanges sit within a few hundred feet of homes, schools, community centers and parks in already heavily polluted south Fresno neighborhoods.
Initially, a judge dismissed the case on a technicality, citing missed deadlines. But in April 2025, the California Court of Appeal overturned that dismissal. The CEQA case is now back on track, and this fall Fresno Building Healthy Communities and the Federal Highway Administration must tell the full truth about the project and properly analyze the real health and environmental consequences of this forced mega freeway expansion.
Two Projects, One Law
The Costco and mega-freeway projects differ in geography and scale, but not in the kind of environmental failures they represent. Both cases involve:
- Incomplete environmental reviews that hide or downplay harmful impacts.
- Omission of key project elements – a delivery warehouse in one case, a mega-freeway and massive industrial development in the other.
- Failure to protect the residents, whether it’s through traffic mitigation, air quality, or public health safeguards. (See: American Lung Association – State of the Air)
- CEQA violations that courts have recognized as legitimate and serious.
If CEQA is the standard, and if it is being applied fairly, then both projects must face the same level of scrutiny and correction before any work begins.
A Call for Consistency and Equal Protection
Fresno’s Costco ruling drew attention because it involved a major corporation and a high-profile city development. The South Fresno case involves two government agencies, secret deals, and communities that have endured decades of neglect and environmental harm. These largely working-class families live with some of the worst air pollution and highest asthma rates in the country. (Background on health burden: State of the Air)
To allow a mega-freeway expansion and massive warehouse build-out to move forward without full environmental review is to once again sacrifice the health of South Fresno residents for the sake of more profits for a few powerful developers.
As the Costco ruling shows, CEQA is not optional. If a project violates those principles, it must be paused, regardless of who’s behind it or where it’s located. (Learn more: What is CEQA?)
The court was right to pause the Costco project. It would be wrong to let a bigger, more damaging project continue without facing the same legal standards.
The rights of communities in South Fresno deserve just as much protection as our north Fresno neighbors. See our campaigns.
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