SAN GABRIEL VALLEY : State Panel Delays Decision on Freeway Extension

The California Transportation Commission postponed a controversial decision on the Long Beach Freeway extension Wednesday after learning that a survey of historic buildings along the proposed route had not been properly reviewed.

State Historic Preservation Officer Cherilyn Widell told commissioners they should not act on the proposed route until her office had an opportunity to review a Caltrans survey of buildings considered eligible for inclusion on the National Registry of Historic Buildings.

Widell said she legally has 30 days to review the report and determine what position her office will take. Widell’s appearance before the commission prompted one commissioner, Daniel Fessler, to suggest that there appears to be some division within the Wilson Administration over the freeway extension.

He said that while the Business, Transportation and Housing Agency, acting through Caltrans, was advocating an immediate decision, the Resources Agency, which oversees the State Historic Preservation Office, was seeking a delay.

“The Administration ought to get its position straight before we act on this,” he said.

His colleagues agreed and postponed consideration of the project until July.

Wednesday’s meeting of the commission was to have been the last battle at the state level for a project that has been bitterly contested for more than 40 years.

The extension of the Long Beach Freeway would run for 6.2 miles through Los Angeles, Alhambra, South Pasadena and Pasadena between the San Bernardino and Foothill freeways. The commission has voted on the extension twice before, but never on this route.