San Gabriel Valley : Caltrans Denied More Funds to Buy Homes

County transit officials refused to give Caltrans $5.8 million it seeks to buy homes in the path of the Long Beach Freeway (Interstate 710) extension.

The move by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority board last week leaves the California Department of Transportation with about $1.1 million to buy houses along the route through Pasadena, South Pasadena and Los Angeles.

“It ranked too low on our list of projects,” said Stephen Finnegan, MTA program manager.

The agency seeks about $330 million to purchase about 1,000 homes and other land in the road’s pathway in order to begin construction by 2005.

The decision follows recent reports in The Times that 106 of 610 houses owned by Caltrans along the route are in uninhabitable shape.

Caltrans had bought the homes with money from the state Transportation Commission.

Caltrans officials said the freeway will go forward anyway.

Freeway opponents, led by South Pasadena, which has managed to stall the 6.2-mile highway for more than three decades, said the decision shows a lack of support for the $1.4-billion project.

The Federal Highway Adminstration is considering the project. . . .