It seems to me that most of the benefit of capping in that area would be for the south of the highway neighborhood to either side of Steele. But, north of Steele is a large warehouse type facility. In general I agree though, that there doesn't appear to be much value to it.
My earlier thoughts on abandoning Vasquez were purely related to my belief that it is a redundant road that costs money to maintain for nothing. Our infrastructure costs too much to maintain, and I just think we need to find ways to reduce when and wherever possible. A neighborhood does not only include houses, but also places of business. The residents can walk to work and connect through there. It's only a issue, when the businesses are polluting the vicinity that it is a concern. In fact, if they abandoned Vasquez and replaced some of the grid, they would hardly need to affect any properties. It's kind of a no brainer to me - less road, less cost to maintain, better neighborhood connectivity, win-win.
See unedited map here: They could connect 50th and 52nd through for the east west, and Steele could follow Vasquez up to Cook for a new north-south. See, no one looses anything except a couple parking spaces.