U.S. Formally OKs Extension of 710 Freeway

Concluding a pivotal battle in a 33-year-old war over six miles of concrete, the federal government formally approved the Long Beach Freeway extension Monday night over the objections of opponents who say that it will destroy cherished historic areas.

The formal record of decision giving the green light to the extension through South Pasadena, Pasadena and the Eastside of Los Angeles was signed by Federal Highway Administration officials in their San Francisco offices shortly after 9 p.m.

However, freeway foes, who for decades counted on the federal government to kill the San Gabriel Valley roadway, won a last-minute concession that the government would take a second look at the project after it is fully designed, to review environmental concerns. Opponents have also vowed to take their fight to the courts once the U.S. Department of Transportation followed through on its announcement last November informally backing the extension of Interstate 710.

“This is a huge victory for South Pasadena and other freeway opponents,” South Pasadena spokesman Alan Maltun said.

But Monday’s decision was also hailed as a major victory by proponents.

“This is finally going to happen,” said Rep. Matthew Martinez (D-Monterey Park), a longtime freeway advocate who spoke to Transportation Secretary Rodney Slater on Monday about the extension closing the gap between the Foothill and San Bernardino freeways. “I was a young man when this battle began,” added Martinez, 69.

Although Monday’s action ended the most hotly contested phase of the freeway fight--whether the federal government would throw its full weight behind the extension--the government left itself an exit clause.

*

In a memo to Slater dated Monday, President Clinton noted the need for improved infrastructure but urged the transportation secretary to “take every reasonable step to mitigate the impacts on the community and the environment should the project go forward.”

That memo follows an unprecedented letter to the president from the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, an independent federal agency that questioned the Transportation Department’s approval of the extension.

After plans for the freeway are finished--which will take at least two years--the federal government will reassess the environmental impact of the roadway. There have been more than half a dozen such reviews since the project’s inception, and opponents hope the latest--which had been urged by the Environmental Protection Agency--would cripple the project given anticipated changes in air quality and other regulations.

“This project won’t hold up to proper and thorough scrutiny,” Maltun said. But a senior administration official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that while the future review will be taken seriously, the administration is fully behind the extension.

“We are very committed,” the official said. “We are very supportive of this project going forward.”

Alhambra City Manager Julio Fuentes, whose city has pushed for the extension, added: “This is the doorway we needed for the construction of this freeway.”

The federal official said the administration has worked hard to reduce environmental and traffic effects since first looking at Caltrans’ plans in 1992. The new roadway carves out a 20% smaller area, and 85% of it will run below street level, the official said.

Other than the scheduled reassessment, two potential obstacles remain. South Pasadena has vowed an “Armageddon lawsuit” to kill the project, and the roadway--estimated to cost $1.4 billion before the most recent changes--must be financed by the cash-strapped Metropolitan Transportation Authority.

Since 1965, South Pasadena residents have furiously fought the freeway, lobbying the federal government to reject plans that would tear up their quaint downtown, claiming 6,000 trees and 900 houses. In 1995, El Sereno activists filed a federal civil rights lawsuit alleging that their largely Latino neighborhood had not received as much input in the design process as more affluent South Pasadena. That lawsuit is unresolved.

*

Although the formal approval of the freeway was hinted at last fall, the federal government faced a midnight deadline for its signature of the official record of decision Monday. At midnight, a transportation plan by a regional planning agency expired and no project--including the Long Beach freeway extension--could be approved until a new plan is ratified, a process that could take more than a month.

A trial is scheduled to begin next week in a lawsuit filed against the federal government by Alhambra alleging that the city has been choked with polluting traffic cutting through the existing freeway gap. Alhambra officials said Monday night that they would have to read the government’s formal statement before deciding the fate of their suit.