In this week's podcast, Kris Fortin speaks with City of Alhambra Vice Mayor Jeff Maloney about "Advancing Alhambra" the city's plans for its roads after the 2017 decision to not move forward with extending the 710 Freeway.

While Alhambra had been one of the cities most vocal in support of extending the 710 up to the 210 for decades, the cancellation of the project has led to new opportunities for the city to invest in transit and safe street programs. Advancing Alhambra pinpoints three interchanges and the current 710 "stub" for improvements that could have a dramatic impact across the whole city.

A community meeting is planned for tomorrow night, on Zoom at 6 p.m. Register for the meeting, here.

Early in the pre-interview portion of the podcast, Damien and Kris discuss how long they've been collectively covering the 710 corridor project, and how long the project existed before Streetsblog was launched in 2008 in Los Angeles. Kris brings up the nuttiest "open streets"/block party event he ever went to in 2013, that doubled as a rally for extending the 710. He wrote about it in Streetsblog, and if you're interested you can read the story, here.

SGV Connect is supported by Foothill Transit, offering car-free travel throughout the San Gabriel Valley with connections to the new Gold Line Stations across the Foothills and Commuter Express lines traveling into the heart of downtown L.A. To plan your trip, visit Foothill Transit. “Foothill Transit. Going Good Places.”

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In this week's SGV Connect, Damien follows up on his story from last month about the ongoing efforts to transfer ownership of properties owned by Caltrans in what was the project area for the now defunct 710 project near Pasadena. Following that, Kris gets an update on some changes coming to ExpressLanes in the I-110 area.

First, Damien interviews Timothy Ivison and Angels Flores, both members of the United Caltrans Tenants Union about the history of the ongoing dispute between Caltrans and their renters. If you're interested in learning more about this story, check out "United Caltrans Tenants Oppose State Legislation That Would Guide Home Sales, Possibly Lead to Evictions" published at Streetsblog last month.

Kris talked with Metro staff about a few projects happening with the Expresslanes on the Interstate 10, including the COVID-19 service impact and recovery, the planned toll-road extension from the I-605 to the San Bernardino County Line, and what Metro is doing about people who avoid the toll by misidentifying themselves as a carpool vehicle.