710 tunnel opponents come out in force

By SHEL SEGAL
The battle to bridge the Interstate 710 gap between Alhambra and Pasadena ran into opposition on Saturday as the group No on 710 and around 100 of its supporters rallied at Blair High School to state its case.
Susan Bolan, a La Crescenta resident and member of No on 710, said before the rally that featured several local politicians who are opposed to the proposed project that the amount of traffic that would pass through the area is enough to make her say no to the extension.
“For me, personally, it’s all about the numbers,” Bolan said. “There’s about 44,000 vehicles that go through this area per day currently. It’s predicted that if the tunnel is built about 180,000 vehicles will pass through this area. That’s a four times increase. Hence, an increase in pollution, congestion, all of it … Why would you build a tunnel, a project of this magnitude if it’s so expensive, will increase congestion and increase pollution? I don’t get it.”
She added she does not want to see that traffic make its way up Interstate 210 to where she lives.
“It’s shear volume,” Bolan said. “If you have four times the amount of traffic that’s going through this section, a good portion of that is going to split off and go in my neighborhood.”
In addition, Bolan said the tunnel would just be too dangerous for motorists if it is built
“History has shown that tunnels present a particular type of danger, especially fire,” Bolan said. “You can’t mitigate a tunnel fire.”
Former Assemblyman Anthony Portantino agreed.
“A tunnel of that size inherently brings risks,” Portantino said. “We haven’t seen any evacuation plan. We haven’t seen any type of safety plan or anything that addresses any of the fault lines. They haven’t put one credible piece of information on the table to show this is a safe way to mitigate traffic in the San Gabriel Valley. And you see hundreds and thousands of people expressing that concern. The facts are on our side and they’re losing this battle based on their own false information.
Portantino added the cost of building the tunnel in actual dollars is too great.
“Here’s a situation where we’re spending millions and millions of dollars of taxpayer money on a failed process,” he said. “You can’t bring more cars and more trucks into a region and think somehow traffic and pollution will decrease. A third grader could figure out that’s a faulty thesis, but yet we’re continually sold that thesis without any substantial data that shows this will improve the quality of life for the San Gabriel Valley.”
(Shel Segal can be reached at ssegal@beaconmedianews.com).

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