In his video, he speaks of a march in October 1989 which galvanized opposition. “I guess he is our Deep Throat,” said Harry Knapp, a member of the group and a former South Pasadena councilman. To this day, she won’t reveal the name of the man who first displayed the 710 symbol on his truck. They knew we had good arguments,” Nukols said. “We said, ‘Let’s go,’ and as we approached a commissioner (of the the state Transportation Commission), he saw us coming and he ran away. It became one of the early icons of the movement.įreeway Fighters would wear buttons with the 710 circle and red slash at meetings of the California Transportation Commission and everywhere they went, she noted in her video documentary. She got permission from the man who displayed the sign to use the symbol in marches and in city Fourth of July parades. In the late ’80s, Nuckols spotted a truck with a 710 Freeway logo doctored up with a circle and a red slash. Instead, the agency opted for a low-build alternative which allows cities to widen roads, add bus and bike lanes and synchronize traffic signals on local thoroughfares to reduce bottlenecks caused by the freeway’s abrupt end near Alhambra. Caltrans followed in November, certifying the latest environmental documents but not choosing the tunnel. Metro voted down the tunnel project in May 2017, saying the price tag, estimated between $5 billion and $7 billion, and a lack of political will would make the tunnel unbuildable. The fight continued, contentious as always. Not surprising to Caltrans officials, the group rejected the concept, finding holes in reports on air pollution and anticipated costs.
The group, now joined by Pasadena, Sierra Madre, La Cañada Flintridge, Los Angeles and Glendale formed the No 710 Action Committee. Six years later, the plan was back in a new form, as a tunnel, proposed by Caltrans and the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority. In the 1980s and 1990s, opponents from South Pasadena, plus historic preservation and environmental groups, fought the environmental impact report’s recommendations, until the Federal Highway Administration in 2003 withdrew its support for the surface freeway. Caltrans bought up 500 to clear the path, many still owned by the state transportation agency. The 4.5-mile gap would take up about 6 miles of a surface route roughly from Valley Boulevard and along Meridian Avenue and would require the demolition of 976 houses. The group, along with the Sierra Club were granted a court injunction in 1973, halting all plans until Caltrans completed a full environmental analysis. Since the scare of that early map, the group originally called Citizens United to Save South Pasadena grew into a multigenerational band of tenacious residents who persisted for six decades, laser-focused on one purpose: stopping the freeway. history, said Nuckols and other transportation watchers. The achievement ended the longest running freeway fight in U.S. They are streaming the clips on the South Pasadena Library website. Many laid down their stories in short videos funded by the California Listening Project and the California State Library, which debuted last week at a public screening.
Love ’em or hate ’em, for decades, since the extension first became part of the state highway plan in 1959, the Freeway Fighters of South Pasadena fought Caltrans, the Federal Highway Administration and big cities initially in favor, such as Los Angeles and Pasadena, as well as the state Legislature - and turned them to their side and won. If South Pasadena thinks they came out ahead, they are sadly mistaken,” said Barbara Messina, the most prominent proponent of the freeway outside of Caltrans and a former Alhambra councilwoman.
But no, I don’t feel they can claim a victory. Others say the Freeway Fighters didn’t act on behalf of the public good and don’t deserve acclaim. “But it was their steadfast belief in the cause, that the impact would be enormous and the cost would be enormous.” Anthony Portantino, D-La Cañada Flintridge, who began his opposition to the freeway in 1999 and is carrying a bill to prevent Caltrans from ever building a freeway tunnel or surface freeway between the 10 and 210. “It was a righteous fight,” said state Sen. Or an extended not-in-my-backyard exercise, depending on which side one takes: For opponents, they are heroes.įor those who say the 710 gap closure was desperately needed to move traffic from the freeway’s end at Valley Boulevard on Fremont and Garvey Avenues between Alhambra and Pasadena, they are obstructionists, albeit successful ones. How they fought and won is a fascinating study of grass-roots activism.
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