County Changing Truck Routes on Local Big Dig Project as School Starts

L.A. County Public Works will transition to the in-school haul route at Devil’s Gate Reservoir on Monday, Aug. 17. 

Trucks will exit the 210 Freeway using the Arroyo Boulevard/Windsor Avenue off-ramp and travel north on Windsor Avenue, then head west on Oak Grove Drive and use the new eastern access road to enter the reservoir, and exit to the west.

Last month, L.A. County reached a settlement in a lawsuit with the Arroyo Seco Foundation and the Pasadena Audubon Society over the sediment removal project.

The settlement reduced the scope of the project and pollution created by trucks performing sediment removal. 

“Although we understand schools are starting the year with off-site distance learning, we want to ensure that our hauling does not impact school transitioning schedules at such time as in-person schooling might resume,” the county Public Works Department said in a statement. “Also, by continuing with the same hauling pattern as in the previous year, we are maintaining the commitment to balance the truck traffic between the communities of Pasadena and Altadena on the east side of the reservoir and La Cañada Flintridge on the west side.”

The county is removing millions of cubic yards of sediment from the reservoir that’s immediately behind the nearly 100-year-old Devil’s Gate Dam. The controversial project could last four years and has led to hundreds of truck trips in and out of the Arroyo Seco. Known as the Big Dig, the project has come under fire by residents of Pasadena and nearby La Cañada Flintridge.

A large amount of sediment has not been removed from Devil’s Gate since 1994 when workers hauled out 160,000 cubic yards of soil and debris. An additional 1 million cubic yards of soil and debris were dumped into the basin by the Station fire in 2009, which burned more than 160,000 acres in Altadena, Pasadena, La Cañada Flintridge, and Acton.

Devil’s Gate is the oldest dam constructed by the L.A. County Flood Control District, providing flood protection for the cities of Pasadena, South Pasadena, and Los Angeles.

The county’s Public Works Department claims compromised spillways could be blocked by sediment during a major storm, causing Devil’s Gate Dam to overflow into the Arroyo Seco, which includes the Rose Bowl and Brookside Park.