Pasadena Brings On New Hire To Continue Movement On 710 Freeway Stub Redevelopment

The city of Pasadena hired a public works expert to helm the redevelopment of nearly 50 acres where the 710 Freeway was once expected to expand.

Pasadena named Wendy Macias, a public works manager for the city of Paramount, as senior project manager for the undertaking, The Real Deal reported. 

In June, the California Transportation Commission returned to Pasadena roughly 50 acres once destined for multiple lanes of freeway traffic, plus a $5M payment, the Pasadena Star-News reported at the time. The city is now contemplating ideas for the space that include affordable housing and open space and has tasked an advisory group with giving input on the future of the property, TRD reported. 

The 710 Freeway expansion was abandoned in 2018 after about 60 years of back-and-forth over the project. During that time, homes and land from El Sereno to Pasadena were taken through eminent domain to make way for the freeway extension. Caltrans rented out the houses for decades, and when they were vacated or tenants were evicted, Caltrans often didn't rent them to new occupants, drawing the growing ire of elected officials and locals as the region's homelessness crisis grew and the pandemic worsened.

This year, Pasadena bought more than 100 homes and had begun to sell them at below-market rates, the Star-News reported. 

Supporters of expanding the freeway from its current northern terminus in Alhambra to Pasadena pointed to the necessity of closing the gap so goods from the ports in Long Beach and San Pedro could flow inland more easily. 

Opponents have largely been residents who would find themselves living next to a heavy transportation corridor and whose concerns about the pollution and degraded quality of life that would result from that eventually won out. Similar voices stopped a proposed widening of the freeway last year.

The Pasadena City Council also contracted local consultancy Point C to help organize the ideas of locals, commissioners and other stakeholders into a single vision that can guide the project forward, TRD reported. Point C's contract runs through 2026.