Interstate 710
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The Long Beach Freeway--signed as Interstate 710 throughout its entire length, as California State Highway 7 prior to 1981, and as U.S. Highway 6 during planning in the 1950s--is a freeway running for 23 miles (37 km) in a north-south direction through Los Angeles County, California. For most of its route, it follows the course of the Los Angeles River, rarely wandering more than a few hundred feet from the riverbed.
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The Route
As originally planned, the freeway would travel from downtown Long Beach to the Foothill Freeway in Pasadena, where it would also connect the Pasadena and Foothill freeways. The original northern portion of the route went up Atlantic Boulevard in Alhambra and Los Robles in San Marino and Pasadena. Opposition to this route by Alhambra and San Marino resulted in a routing that skirted Alhambra and bisected South Pasadena. Subsequent opposition to the rerouted project by residents of the city of South Pasadena and the Los Angeles district of El Sereno, and the resulting litigation, have prevented Caltrans from completing the northernmost leg of the route. The freeway's northern terminus has therefore been Valley Boulevard in far eastern Los Angeles since the 1960s. As a result, freeway signs for the destination of the northbound Long Beach Freeway have control cities varying between "Pasadena" and "Valley Boulevard." The northern stub of Route 710 goes from Interstate 210 (California) south to California Blvd.
The failure to complete both the Long Beach Freeway and the Glendale Freeway (which stops short of its intended southern terminus at the Hollywood Freeway in Echo Park, and was to have continued westward as the Beverly Hills Freeway) has resulted in incredible traffic congestion in northeastern Los Angeles and the northwestern San Gabriel Valley, as there are no north-south freeways in the heavily populated area between the Golden State and San Gabriel River freeways. Pro- and anti-710 lobbies have debated heatedly whether finishing the Long Beach Freeway would alleviate any of the San Gabriel Valley's congestion, or merely displace it from surface streets to the freeway.
Future Developments
South Pasadena
Currently, Caltrans is researching the possibility of using advanced tunneling technologies to build the Long Beach Freeway under South Pasadena without disturbing the residential neighborhoods on the surface; such technologies have been used to build freeways through similarly sensitive cities like Versailles in France. South Pasadena's government has grudgingly conceded that it may assent to such a project. However, it is unclear whether this option would be financially feasible, owing to the state budget crisis of the early 21st century. Caltrans has indicated that the South Pasadena real estate that it owns along the original 710 right-of-way, which has appreciated several hundred percent in real terms since its acquisition in the mid-1960s, would currently command a sufficiently high price to pay for the state's share of the tunnel. However, the vulnerability of such an ambitious structure to earthquakes and terrorism, and the resultingly high cost of insuring against such mishaps, might still preclude the tunnel's construction.
Reconstruction
The explosive growth of cargo volumes handled at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach has added an enormous amount of truck traffic to the Long Beach Freeway, since it is the most direct route between the port complex and the railyards in Vernon and East Los Angeles, as well as the Pomona and San Bernardino freeways that connect Los Angeles to railyards in San Bernardino and Colton. The freeway's pavement has been badly damaged as a result, as it was not designed to carry nearly as large of a load of truck traffic. It has also become a major source of air pollution, emanating from diesel-fueled trucks idling in rush hour traffic congestion and giving cities along its route some of the worst air quality in already smoggy Southern California. In response to these developments, Caltrans and the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority have called for a radical expansion of the segment of the freeway between the San Diego and Pomona Freeways. It would include dedicated truck lanes, elevated carpool lanes similar to those on the Harbor Freeway (I-110), and up to 10 lanes for general traffic. By using existing right-of-way along the Los Angeles River, very few homes would need to be taken by eminent domain. (Initial plans for the construction called for the condemnation of nearly a thousand residences, drawing fierce opposition from local governments and community activists along the route.) Groundbreaking on the ambitious new freeway, which would be one of the world's most advanced, is pending allocation of federal transportation funds.
State Law
Legal Definition of Route 710: California Streets and Highways Code, Chapter 2, Article 3, Section 622
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Route 710 is part of the Freeway and Expressway System, as stated by section 253.1 of the California State Highway Code. |
Legal Definition of the Long Beach Freeway
Route 710 from Route 1 to Route 5. [State Highway Commission (11/18/1954)]
Source: 2004 Named Freeways, Highways, Structures and Other Appurtenances in California (PDF)
Intersecting Freeways
San Diego Freeway (I-405)
Gardena Freeway (CA-91)- Artesia Freeway (CA-91)
Century Freeway(I-105)
Santa Ana Freeway (I-5)
Pomona Freeway (CA-60)
San Bernardino Freeway (I-10)
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Three-digit Interstates from Interstate 10 |
| I-110 | California - Florida - Louisiana - Mississippi - Texas |
| I-210 | California - Louisiana |
| I-310 | Louisiana |
| I-410 | Texas |
| I-510 | Louisiana |
| I-610 | Louisiana - Texas |
| I-710 | California |
| I-910 | Louisiana |
| past/ future |
I-110: California - I-210: Alabama - I-310: Louisiana - I-410: Arizona - Louisiana - I-510: Arizona - I-710: Arizona |
