Pasadena : Light-Rail Route Selected

The Board of Directors has selected the Foothill (210) Freeway as the route for an east-west light-rail line through Pasadena. In action this week, the board directed its Light Rail Alignment Task Force to study safety and access problems at stations along the line and to consider terminal sites in east Pasadena.

The board action, in effect, discards two routes through downtown Pasadena that had drawn strong opposition from property and business owners on Green Street. One of the routes would have turned Green Street into a transit mall, and the other would have put rail cars on both Green Street and Colorado Boulevard.

Director Rick Cole said the choice was dictated by the technology being used by the Los Angeles County Transportation Commission, which is building a light-rail line from Long Beach to Los Angeles and plans to extend it through Pasadena. The rail cars would be boarded from platforms three or four feet high and 90 feet long. Cole said that putting such platforms on city streets is impractical.

Cole said the light-rail system will serve commuters, but do little or nothing to enhance the downtown area. He said the city’s next step should be to push forward with development of a local transit system, such as trolley cars on rails or rubber tires.

The board instructed the Light Rail Alignment Task Force to give attention to developing a local transit system and to resolving safety, access and parking problems connected with the light-rail line.