Pasadena City Council Votes to Oppose 710 Tunnel

An historic vote in the decades-long battle against the 710 Freeway extension took place Monday night when the Pasadena City Council voted 5-3 to officially oppose a tunnel option.

All Pasadena Council members expressed opposition to the tunnel alternative but disagreed on procedural matters during a lengthy meeting at the Pasadena Convention Center.

City Council members voted unanimously to support the recommended multi-mode alternative developed by a group of community members who studied regional, subregional, and local transportation needs with a variety options, an emphasis on getting people out of their cars using light rail, bus service, and bicycle transit.

“It was a very exciting evening and marks an important moment in history for Pasadena and the region,” said South Pasadena City Council member Dr. Marina Khubesrian after the vote.

Khubesrian was among many who spoke at the meeting. Speaking on behalf of the City of South Pasadena, she applauded the work of the Pasadena Working Group, which concluded the tunnel is not a “preferred alternative for Pasadena,” urging the Los Angeles Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro) and Caltrans to study other modes of transportation to improve traffic flow from the 710 terminus off Valley Drive just outside the Alhambra city limits to the 210/134 interchange in Pasadena. Khubesrian, a physician, expressed concerns for the public’s health with the tunnel portals concentrating air pollutants associated with increased rates of autism and respiratory illness in children.