Task Force on Alternate Freeway Routes Urged

South Pasadena officials have asked the state Department of Transportation to establish an independent task force to consider alternatives to building the last link of the Long Beach Freeway.

The City Council, with the support of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, made the request in a letter sent this week to Robert Best, director of the department. A Caltrans spokesman said Friday that the letter had not yet arrived.

The council criticized Caltrans for not extensively considering options such as light rail and partial completion of the freeway gap that exists between the San Bernardino and Foothill freeways.

Under the city’s proposal, the study of the freeway expansion--which would cut through Pasadena, South Pasadena, Alhambra and Los Angeles’ El Sereno neighborhood--would be conducted by experts from outside the state.