710 Freeway Reclaim

Pasadena, California

Client: Connecting Pasadena Project

In 1964, the State of California demolished thousands of homes through imminent domain to extend the 710 Freeway between the 110 and the 210 Freeways. The 710 Freeway stub as it exists now interrupts the street grid of neighborhoods to the east and west and separates Old Pasadena from the Ambassador Campus and Auditorium, Maranatha High School, the Norton Simon Museum, and many businesses. The Connecting Pasadena Project is a community-based initiative to reclaim this land, rebuild the urban fabric, and restore the economic and social activity that was destroyed by highway construction. It has five principal ideas: 1) Fill the freeway stub with parking and other service uses; 2) Convert the freeway into a multi-lane boulevard as it enters the Pasadena; 3) Create a new network of blocks, streets, and open spaces to stitch together the disconnected sides of the city; 4) Use the reclaimed land for new infill development; and 5) Regulate development in a form that is sensitive to the surrounding context.