Tunnel and Alhambra Not a Good Fit

GUEST EDITORIAL

710 ends on Valley Blvd in Alhambra (Photo – aaroads.com).

The city of Alhambra is being imploded by over-development and the increased traffic congestion and pollution resulting from that over-development.

By Janet Ervin

The Alhambra City Council claims that the City has been overrun by cut-through traffic. The truth is that Alhambra suffers no more cut-through traffic than any of the neighboring cities. Traffic studies by independent transportation planners have consistently shown that 87% of that traffic is local.

710 and Alhambra

When Alhambra residents learn that the proposed tunnel will have no entrances or exits for its entire 4.5 mile length; that it will not be a freeway because tolls will be charged; that it will be virtually impossible to rescue people when there is a fire in the tunnel, they are overwhelmingly opposed.

The proponents of the tunnel have not been able to prove that it is fiscally sound. Let’s use our resources more responsibly to build a mass transit system that will provide commuters with viable options. That will reduce traffic congestion on local streets and all of the region’s freeways.

Alhambra resident, Janet Ervin, who came to S. California from Chicago, knows how effective a good public transit system can be.