Residents Voice Freeway Concerns and Provide Alternatives

Residents of Northeast Los Angeles and the San Gabriel Valley had their last chance earlier this week to publicly log concerns about Metro Los Angeles' latest effort to build an extension of State Route 710 through their communities.

For decades, Metro and Caltrans have identified "the gap" between SR-210 in Alhambra and SR-710 in Pasadena as the source of major traffic congestion in the San Gabriel Valley and Northeast Los Angeles, and have endeavored to relieve that pressure by proposing to connect the two freeways with a multi-lane surface freeway or a miles-long underground tunnel.

Last Wednesday, a public comment session was held at Ramona Hall in Highland Park. Titled "Going on the Record," it  was the final in a series of meetings Metro is required to hold in their latest effort to earn a valid Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the SR-710 project.

In 1999, a federal judge issued an injunction prohibiting Metro from spending any public funds on the freeway project. That injunction essentially negated a decision made in 1998 by the Federal Highway Administration to approve Metro's EIS.

In that 1999 ruling, Federal Judge Harry Pregerson stated that Metro had not adequately considered multi-mode alternatives to the freeway.

Since the time that the injunction was filed, the two agencies have shifted their focus to the construction of an underground tunnel. In 2006 and 2009, separate geo-technical studies showed it would be technically feasible to bore underground tunnels through any of five distinct zones beneath Northeast Los Angeles and the San Gabriel Valley. Zone two would place the tunnel directly below Highland Park and Mount Washington.

Freeway opponents, including the No 710 Action Committee, have argued that though the two studies may have proven the tunnels technically feasible, they did not adequately address the environmental concerns that attend underground transportation routes. 

Among those environmental concerns were be the carbon emissions from the ventilation stacks the tunnels would require, opponents said.

Metro's latest attempt at securing a valid EIS is guided by an amendment passed by the MTA board last spring requiring Metro to consider those "multi-mode" options during the EIS process.

The amendment, which was proposed by MTA board member Richard Katz, calls for the scoping process to "include a full range of new, route-neutral transportation options, (which eventually will be included in a cost benefit analysis), alternative analyses, and all necessary environmental studies to allow policy makers, stakeholders and the public to make well-informed decisions about options to 1) improve mobility, safety and congestion, 2) address community concerns and 3) augment planning efforts."

On Wednesday evening, community members continued to urge Metro to seriously consider alternatives to an above ground freeway or tunnel.

Mark Vallianatos, an adjunct professor of Urban & Environmental Policy at , said the keys to solving traffic problems in the area were improved public transportation and pedestrian infrastructure.

"The best way to reduce congestion is to reduce car use," Villianatos said.

He also suggested extending a light rail system that would connect Pasadena to the North Hollywood Red Line station by way of Eagle Rock.

Nat Reed, a paid consultant for the 710 Freeway Coalition was one of the few speakers who advocated in favor of a gap closure project.

He said that, while he was not opposed to rail transportation, a freeway needed to be part of the solution.

"There's a regional need to complete the freeway, not only for our generation, but for our children and our grandchildren, because our population will continue to grow and we have a fixed freeway system and we must leave a legacy for our children and our grandchildren," he said.

Metro, for their part, says they are committed to listening to community concerns.

Communications Manager Helen Ortiz Gilstrap said that Metro has held 20 public comment sessions as part of the scoping process and would continue to accept public comments online at metro.net/sr710conversations until April 14.

Editor's note: The has opposed efforts to extend the 710 freeway. Read about it .