San Gabriel Valley : 710 Freeway Shift May Need Panel’s OK

Caltrans’ plan to shift part of the proposed Long Beach Freeway extension west may require approval by the state Transportation Commission before any money is spent on the roadway, a top commission official said.

The commission 16 months ago gave final state approval to a route through Pasadena, South Pasadena and El Sereno. But that route did not include the latest proposal to move a three-quarter mile stretch 400 feet west to avoid a newly identified five-block El Sereno historic district and the South Pasadena neighborhood where the landmark Grokowsky House is located.

Pete Hathaway, chief deputy director of the commission, said that such a shift may constitute a new route.

“If it moves 400 feet it will probably need to come back to us for a new route adoption,” he said.

Hathaway said the change is unlikely to add to construction time because no large amount of transportation funds are slated to be spent on the route before 2003. The project also is awaiting Federal Highway Administration approval, which is expected in April.

When the route change was announced at a press conference last Wednesday, Caltrans Chief Environmental Planner Ron Kosinski said commission approval would not be necessary. Later, however, he said he expected the “minor alteration” to go before the commission.

The new route would save 154 dwellings from being knocked down but target 88 other houses that previously had been spared from demolition.