Interstate 710

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Interstate 710

(CS&HC Section 622)

Length:

23 mi (37 km)

Formed:

September 1983 by FHWA^[1]
1984 by Caltrans (from SR 7)^[2]

South end:

Terminal Island in Long Beach

Major
junctions:

I-405 in Long Beach

I-105 in Lynwood

I-5 in Commerce

I-10 in Monterey Park

North end:

Valley Blvd. in Los Angeles

California State Routes
< I-680		SR 740 >
Unconstructed - Deleted - Freeway - Scenic

Interstate 710 (I-710), mostly named the Long Beach Freeway (and referred to by locals as The Seven-Ten), is a freeway running for 23 miles (37 km) in a north-south direction through Los Angeles County, California, United States. 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.

1 Route description
2 History
- 2.1 1930 to 1965
- 2.2 1965 to present
3 Future plans
- 3.1 South Pasadena
- 3.2 Reconstruction
4 Control cities
5 Exit list
6 References
7 External links

[edit] Route description

Map of the Long Beach Freeway (red)

Until November 18, 1954 the freeway was called the Los Angeles River Freeway.^[3]

The road presently signed as Interstate 710 runs from Ocean Boulevard west of downtown Long Beach north to Valley Boulevard (just north of Interstate 10) in Alhambra, just east of the Los Angeles community of El Sereno.

A short unsigned freeway stub exists in Pasadena, heading south from the interchange of Interstate 210 and State Route 134 to California Boulevard. The section in between has not been built. Only the section from SR 1 north to Interstate 5 is officially the Long Beach Freeway.

The original plans for that section ran parallel to Atlantic Boulevard in Alhambra and Los Robles Avenue in San Marino and Pasadena. Opposition to this route by Alhambra and San Marino resulted in a routing that skirted Alhambra to the west and bisected South Pasadena. Subsequent opposition to the rerouted project by residents 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 on the border between the East Los Angeles and San Gabriel Valley regions since the 1960s.

As a result of the route's incomplete condition, freeway signs are inconsistent in their identification of the northbound Long Beach Freeway's destination, with some indicating Pasadena as a control city and others identifying Valley Boulevard as the freeway's terminus. For example, approaching Interstate 710 from State Route 60 (Pomona Freeway) in East Los Angeles, westbound traffic is given Valley Boulevard as the destination for the northbound Long Beach Freeway, while eastbound traffic is given a destination of Pasadena. Even signs at the interchange between Interstate 710 and Interstate 105 (Glenn Anderson Freeway), completed in 1993, show Pasadena as the destination for the northbound Long Beach Freeway. This suggests that Caltrans still fully expected to extend Interstate 710 to Pasadena at that time, over a decade since the original proposals for the route through South Pasadena were defeated. Currently, traffic headed for Pasadena on Interstate 710 is redirected to Interstate 10 (San Bernardino Freeway) eastbound by signs at the interchange between the two routes in Monterey Park. These signs identify both Pasadena and San Bernardino as control cities for the eastbound San Bernardino Freeway, although it does not actually pass through Pasadena. Rather, traffic destined for the city is directed to take State Route 19 (Rosemead Boulevard) northbound from its junction with Interstate 10 (about 6 miles east of the Long Beach Freeway) to reach Pasadena.

In reality, most traffic is forced onto Fremont Avenue in Alhambra and South Pasadena and (from the north at least) the old Pasadena Freeway (SR 110).

The failure to complete the Long Beach Freeway has contributed to 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 Interstate 5 (Golden State Freeway) and Interstate 605 (San Gabriel River Freeway). Pro- and anti-710 lobbies have debated whether finishing I-710 would alleviate any of the San Gabriel Valley's congestion, or merely displace it from surface streets to the freeway.

If completed, the Long Beach Freeway and the Foothill Freeway (Interstate 210) would form a continuous route around Los Angeles from Long Beach northwards through Pasadena, beyond the Verdugo Mountains via the Cresenta Valley, across the sparsely populated hills in Sunland-Tujunga and finally joining Interstate 5 at Newhall Pass at the northern end of the San Fernando Valley. Interstate 210 from Newhall Pass to Pasadena was expanded to eight lanes in anticipation of this.

Legal Description

In theory, the route of I-710 is defined at California Streets & Highways Code §§ 622 and 622.1. As a practical matter, the route in Section 622.1 does not exist, and the route in Section 622 is truncated.

[edit] History

[edit] 1930 to 1965

Legislative Route 167 was defined in 1933 to run from San Pedro east to Long Beach and north to Monterey Park.^[4] An extension was added in 1947, taking it north to Pasadena.^[5] State Route 15 was signed in 1934 along the section of Legislative Route 167 from Pacific Coast Highway (State Route 3, later U.S. Route 101 Alternate, now State Route 1) in Long Beach north to Garvey Avenue (U.S. Route 99, replaced by Interstate 10) in Monterey Park. The original pre-freeway alignment ran Los Robles Avenue (Pasadena) and Atlantic Boulevard.^[2]^[6]The freeway replacement of SR 15/LR 167 was built from 1953 to 1965.^[7] The whole route of LR 167, including the proposed extensions west to San Pedro and north to Pasadena, was renumbered State Route 7 in the 1964 state highway renumbering, as the number 15 conflicted with Interstate 15. In 1965 the route was truncated to State Route 1 in Long Beach; the part from SR 1 south and west to State Route 47 was deleted, and the rest from SR 47 west to State Route 11 (now Interstate 110) became part of SR 47.

[edit] 1965 to present

The section of Long Beach Freeway was built from 1954 to 1975. In 1983 the Long Beach Freeway was approved as a chargable interstate, and in 1984 the Long Beach Freeway changed out the SR-7 signs with Interstate 710. It was added shortly after the Harbor Freeway went up changing out the SR-11 signs with Interstate 110 in 1981. ^[8] The short stub in Pasadena was built in 1975, along with the adjacent sections of Interstate 210 and State Route 134.^[7]

The section from SR 1 south and west to SR 47 was re-added to the legislative definition at some point. The existing freeway from SR 1 south to Ocean Boulevard was taken over by the state on August 25, 2000 in a trade with the City of Long Beach for former State Route 103 north of SR 1.^[9] The rest of the defined route, west on Ocean Boulevard to SR 47, is still locally maintained.

[edit] Future plans

[edit] 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. European traffic tunnels are terror targets: Marseille's "Tunnel Prado-Carenage"[1] is threatened by Corsican terrorists, the Madrid Freeway tunnel[2] is threatened by ETA terrorists, and Italian traffic tunnels [3] are threatened by anarchists.

One option would be to congestion price the tunnel, which given the amount of traffic congestion in Southern California would increase the feasibility of building the tunnel. [4]

[edit] 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.

[edit] Control cities

Northbound

Pasadena

Southbound

Long Beach

[edit] Exit list

Postmiles are derived from^[7] and exit numbers derived from^[10].

Location	Postmile	#	Destinations	Notes
Long Beach			(Ocean Blvd) Piers S-T; Terminal Island	Southbound exit and northbound entrance
		1A	(Harbor Scenic Drive) Piers F-J; Queen Mary	Southbound exit and northbound entrance
		1B	Pico Avenue - Piers B-E	Southbound exit and northbound entrance
		1C	(Shoreline Drive) Downtown Long Beach; Aquarium	Southbound left exit and northbound entrance
		1D	Anaheim Street	Exit 1 northbound
	LA 6.80	2	State Route 1 - Pacific Coast Highway
	LA 7.89	3	Willow Street	Split into Exit 3A (East) and 3B (West)
	LA 9.42	4	Interstate 405 - San Diego; Santa Monica
	LA 10.82	6	Del Amo Boulevard	Split into Exit 6A (East) and Exit 6B (West) northbound
		7	Long Beach Boulevard	Split into Exit 7A (Long Beach Blvd - South) and Exit 7B (Long Beach Blvd - North) southbound
	LA 12.98	8	State Route 91 - Riverside; Redondo Beach	Split into 8A and 8B; Northbound exit to SR-91 westbound, and southbound entrance from SR-91 eastbound, accessible via Artesia Blvd
Compton	LA 13.95	9	Alondra Boulevard - Compton	Split into Exit 9A (East) and Exit 9B (West) southbound
Paramount		10	Rosecrans Avenue
Lynwood		11A	Interstate 105 - Norwalk; El Segundo	Exit 11 northbound
Lynwood		11B	Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard	Southbound exit and entrance
South Gate		12	Imperial Highway - South Gate; Lynwood	Split into Exit 12A (East) and Exit 12B (West, accessible via Wright Rd) southbound
South Gate	LA 18.45	13	Firestone Boulevard (State Route 42)
Bell		15	Florence Avenue - Bell
Bell	LA 21.92 LA 21.99	17A	Atlantic Boulevard; Bandini Boulevard	Split into Exit 17A (Atlantic Blvd - North) and Exit 17B (Atlantic Blvd - South) northbound
Commerce	LA 22.45	17B	Washington Boulevard - Commerce	Exit 17C northbound
	LA 23.27	18A	Interstate 5 North - Los Angeles	Northbound exit and southbound entrance; southbound I-710 to northbound I-5 served by I-10
	LA 23.27	18	Interstate 5 South - Santa Ana	Southbound exit and northbound entrance; northbound I-710 to southbound I-5 served by Atlantic Blvd
Los Angeles	LA 23.44	19	Olympic Boulevard	Exit 18B northbound; Southbound exit and entrance accessible via Eastern Ave
		20A	3rd Street	Exit 20B northbound; Northbound exit and entrance accessible via Ford Blvd
	LA 24.63	20B	State Route 60 - Pomona Freeway; Pomona; Los Angeles	exit 20A northbound
	LA 24.97	20C	Cesar Chavez Avenue	Northbound exit and entrance accessible via Ford Blvd; southbound exit accessible via Humphreys Ave;
Monterey Park	LA 26.38	21	Ramona Boulevard	Northbound exit and southbound entrance; Northbound exit accessible via Corporate Center Dr
Monterey Park	LA 26.50	22	Interstate 10 - San Bernardino Freeway; Los Angeles; San Bernardino; Pasadena	Split into Exit 22A (West) and Exit 22B (East) southbound
Los Angeles	LA 27.47		Valley Boulevard	Northbound exit and southbound entrance (at-grade intersection)
Gap
Pasadena	LA 32.08		California Boulevard	Southbound exit and northbound entrance (at-grade intersection)
	LA 32.11		Del Mar Boulevard	Southbound exit and northbound entrance
	LA 32.73		State Route 134 West - Ventura	Northbound exit and southbound entrance
	LA 32.73		Interstate 210 East - San Bernardino	Northbound exit and southbound entrance
			Colorado Boulevard - Pasadena	Southbound exit and northbound entrance
	LA 32.73		Interstate 210 West - San Fernando	Northbound exit and southbound entrance
Northbound traffic defaults onto I-210 west.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

	edit Auxiliary routes of Interstate 10
	Current and Future (F)	Former
	California - Florida - Louisiana - Mississippi - Texas	California
	California - Louisiana	Alabama
	Louisiana	Louisiana
	Texas	Arizona - Louisiana - Louisiana
	Louisiana	Arizona
	Louisiana - Texas
	California	Arizona
	Louisiana