Metro will hold its first meeting of the newly formed I-710 South Corridor Task Force (710 Task Force) on Monday, September 13, from 6 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Please note that this meeting is virtual only due to the ongoing pandemic.
The I-710 Corridor Project was originally conceived as a way to improve traffic safety, modernize the freeway design and accommodate growth in traffic and goods movement — particularly from the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. This section of freeway was built in the 1950s and ‘60s and stretches 19 miles from the ports through 16 cities and communities to East Los Angeles.
The project was halted in March 2021 when the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency signaled that the project wouldn’t meet federal air quality conformity standards. In approving the project in 2018, the Metro Board prioritized local interchange and arterial road upgrades, new pedestrian and bike crossings and more funds for near-zero and zero emission trucks — while also holding off a decision on potentially widening the freeway that would displace residents and businesses in adjacent communities.
In response to the EPA’s decision and these displacement concerns, the Metro Board in May 2021 directed Metro to suspend work on the environmental process and re-engage community members and local stakeholders as part of a collaborative reevaluation of the project through an equitable, multimodal framework.
The 710 Task Force was created in response to these needs and will bring together community, public and private stakeholders that will give voice to local and regional needs for improvement on and around the 710 freeway. It will also solicit feedback and input from the public, particularly from residents in communities along the corridor.
The 710 Task Force meetings will be open to the public and an opportunity to make public comment will be available at each meeting.
To participate in the first meeting, please use the information below:
710 Task Force – Meeting #1
Monday, September 13, 2021
6:00-8:30 pm
Visit https://tinyurl.com/710TaskForce-Mtg1 to register to attend
Webinar ID: 823 7929 0229
Passcode: 5851
English Call-in: (213) 338-8477
Llamada en español: (646) 749-3335
Código de acceso: 773-633-757
The Task Force is charged with leading this process by focusing on equity, public engagement and bringing local jurisdictions and community based organizations to the table with traditional regional transportation and freight stakeholders.
The Task Force is expected to provide a report of its feedback and findings to the Metro Board of Directors and State of California by April 2022.
Categories: Projects
Attended the meeting, Chatting and asking question is disabled, list of attendees is blocked.
Task force members is a state secrete and not published.
Sound more of a show, dance and advertisement for politicians and not a grass root community, outreach
this meeting is held in Los Angeles CA in the USA, this is not Moscow!
It’s unfortunate that such little notice was provided to the public, esp. those of us living in the #DieselDeathCorridor Metro’s plan to widen the 710 fwy by adding a couple more lanes for zero emission trucks only is flawed.
This is kind of the carpool lane concept, it gives electric trucks the privilege of truck-only lanes going to the port. This frees up more of the freeway for other vehicles, including diesel or gasoline trucks and of course cars.
The effect is that we will still have fossil fuel emissions, plus we will have all the other disease-causing emissions from car brakes, tires & lubricants.
In theory it alleviates traffic on the remaining lanes of the fwy, except it doesn’t alleviate traffic on the freeway because the law of induced demand takes effect. Those of us who have paid attention to this issue understand that widening roads NEVER WORKS, & there are plenty of local, national & international studies to back that up.
Instead I propose:
1) No freeway widening
2) Conversion to electric trucks only for port traffic
3) Conversion to electric trains at the Alameda Corridor
4) Pay for it by quadrupling the per-container rate, which may only add fractions of a penny for most products.
The only way to solve all the issues of the so-called up-grading of the 710 South (the 710 North having been already “up-graded”) is: “Read my lips”, move those trucks onto the modern, triple–track, freight railway that parallels the 710 South! This will clean the air, and help clean Metro and CalTrans of their obscenely over-paid bureaucrats. That will be 5 cents please.
It used to be two cents to gets someone’s opinion. It is now five? When will it end?
But on a serious note, there have to the freight railroads that can be done. Before someone says that if favoring BNSF and UP, building a freeway benefits a different set of private companies.
And also can the corridor to the south be electrified?
How does running trucks as well as other vehicles via surface streets outweigh the long overdue completion of the 710 Freeway? Every study will prove that environmentally the freeway is the cleaner alternative. The real reason for not completing it is San Moreno and South Pasadena don’t want a freeway passing thru their cities. Their next move if alternative streets are approved by the MTA will be to place weight and time restrictions
I don’t blame them. I don’t want to live near freeways either.
Is there a meeting agenda? Who is on the Task Force?
I don’t live in the area, but it would probably better to just build a light rail line on Huntington Dr. Then add some park land to make up for the loss of grass in the median.
Sounds a lot better then building freeway.
This is about the southern portion of the 710 (closer to the city of Long Beach), not the abandoned plan to build a new freeway/tunnel through the SGV.