TRANSIT : 710 Freeway Project Is Decried as Too Costly

The proposed Long Beach (710) Freeway extension is among $33 billion in federal projects that a coalition of environmental and taxpayers groups says should be eliminated by Congress as harmful to the environment and too costly.

The 6.2-mile highway through Los Angeles, Alhambra, South Pasadena and Pasadena, which already has state approval, was targeted to be cut by a coalition led by the environmentalist Friends of the Earth and the conservative National Taxpayers Union Foundation. In Washington on Tuesday, the coalition issued “The Green Scissors Report” on cutting government waste, announcing that it will lobby to terminate 34 projects.

The proposed extension to link the San Bernardino (10) and Foothill (210) freeways was on the list because it would split South Pasadena in half, threaten 987 homes and cost from $600 million to $1 billion, coalition officials said.

Alhambra Councilwoman Barbara A. Messina, through whose city much of the potential freeway traffic now flows, said she expects a Republican Congress to support the route.