By Andrew Stein
Freeway Ramps through the city of Alhambra have sparked a debate once again. The residents have continually resisted these freeway improvement projects through their city, with many complaints about traffic, safety, and overall disruption to the community. Notes from Alhambra recent town hall meeting https://www.coloradoboulevard.net/alhambra-debates-future-of-710-stub-at-public-town-hall-meeting/
At a recent town hall, Kimley Horn presented their 710 plan. They are converting the stub into a four-lane divided arterial with bike lanes and a shared pedestrian path. They argue it would relieve congestion on the I-10 corridor, an identified bottleneck. They then went to public comments, the residents main concerns were about traffic, cost and land use. “Multiple speakers urged the city to prioritize pedestrian safety, bike infrastructure, and transit alternatives rather than freeway-focused improvements, suggesting expanded bus service and broader “Walk, Bike, Move Alhambra!” strategies”. They then wrap up the meeting with next steps. There was no final decision made yet, but they are letting Kimley Horn do a targeted traffic study on the proposed area of improvements to see the possible effects.
It was interesting hearing the residents’ remarks seeming to want nothing to do with this project and urging for money to be spent on other transportation projects within the city such as improving bike lanes, pedestrian accommodations, and public transit accessibility. It’s unique because you rarely hear residents push for public transit improvements, but since it’s close to the LA Caltrain transit center it makes more sense. The residents don’t want further connection to other cities in exchange for more traffic and disruption to their own community. The residents urging the city to spend on public transit is an exceptional opportunity for multi-model innovation. The people want it. We have to adapt and meet their needs.
In the LA street blogs article about this topic written by an Alhambra resident, Je-Show Yang, You can hear our author’s passion, he writes, “The question we should ask is, “Who benefits?”
These ramp improvements are often framed as congestion relief. The direct purpose is to help cars move more smoothly into and out of Alhambra. That may benefit commuters passing through our city. The burden stays with residents. The noise stays here. The exhaust stays here, the risk near schools, sidewalks, and bus stops stays here.”
Though I do understand Yang’s frustration with this project and its goals, this project still would benefit lots of commuters. I think the issue is that the residents are being asked to sacrifice their cities’ peace for other people’s convenience and that’s a difficult spot to be in. This is why I believe Kimely Horn needs some type of compromise with the residents of this city in order to build the project without total pushback. From my own Transportation Engineering background and my disconnect from the city of Alhambra, since I’m not a resident; I am more sympathetic toward Kimley Horn. The challenges that come with being in transportation in LA are great. The city is so dense with loads of commuters everyday. Immense volume on the freeways is due to lack of any notable public transit options. So I can understand the need for congestion relief because adding that alternate route connects the cities and creates quicker ways to travel from city to city. Though with LA spending billions annually on freeway improvement projects. Along with the residents’ overwhelming push back of the improvements, and support of public transit I would at least have someone look at possible public transit, biking and pedestrian accessibility improvements. Alhambra residents are asking for something different and Kimely Horn should listen. Along with doing the already agreed upon traffic study, I think it would be worthwhile to listen to the residents and look into possible transit improvements as well.
Lastly I reviewed the Kimley Horn 710 project update posted on May 26, 2026. This presentation laid out the plan for the 710 mobility improvements, it set a timeline and gave specific steps on what’s next. Most of the next steps still revolved around analyzing different areas to see the effect this project would have on the surrounding cities. It detailed environmental effects, noise analysis, preliminary geometric engineering, right-of-way impact analysis and much more. They also explicitly state “ Much of 710 stub traffic is regional, not Alhambra-bound”. Kimely Horn is saying that this affects the whole region, not just the city of Alhambra. This shows they are probably going to go through with this project whether the residents like it or not. With this new project however, they can expect more traffic within the city of Alhambra. Though, I believe it’s Kimely Horn’s job to minimize that effect by spending some of the money on improvements within the city to ease traffic and ensure maximum efficiency once the project is fully built. Finally I believe the city council should move on with Option 1 of Kimley Horn’s next steps and not make any final decisions now before we have the full corridor wide traffic analysis. The City Council should also demand that any 710 projects include proportional funding for transit, bike and pedestrian accessibility improvements for the city of Alhambra and other affected regions.
This article is inspired by La street blogs https://la.streetsblog.org/2026/06/01/guest-editorial-alhambra-has-been-saying-no-to-another-freeway-ramp-for-years-city-hall-should-listen
June 19, 2026
andrew stein 
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