Walking the Pasadena Freeway

Blogger El Chavo! takes a fascinating look at the Pasadena Freeway -- by walking it through in Lincoln Heights. It's a less dangerous and more picturesque journey than you might think:

This spot is quite intense as you have the Arroyo Seco meeting up with the LA River, the 110-5 interchange, trains running underneath, and hills all over the place. Lots of nice views all around.

It includes a short video of freeway traffic. (Photo from blogging.la).

Comments

[Richard]

Great blog. El Chavo! has uncovered a passage way to Los Angeles past.

I’m surprised there is a public access walkway on the Northbound Pasadena Freeway. Doesn’t look too safe.

The reason a sidewalk on the northbound side of the Pasadena Freeway just north of the Elysian Park Tunnel is there is because at one time, many generations ago, the northbound lanes of the Pasadena freeway going over the Los Angeles River was Figueroa Street. The Figueroa Street Bridge was built in 1937 and connected Downtown L.A. to Lincoln Heights via Figueroa Street through the Figueroa Tunnel that went through Elysian Park. Traffic went both ways through the tunnel and there was a sidewalk so that people could walk from Lincoln Heights to Elysian Park or even points beyond, like Chavez Ravine and Chinatown.

The extension of the Pasadena Freeway to the four level brought an end to that as the tunnel and the bridge over the L.A. River were taken over for the freeway's northbound lanes.

I guess this walkway is a Caltrans concession to people in Lincoln Heights that still might want to go to Elysian Park.

It quite amazing that after all the efforts at mitigation of the impact of extending Figueroa Street through Elysian Park that obviously went into the design and construction of the Figueroa Tunnels, the Southbound lanes of the Pasadena Freeway were built the way they were. Just chop off the tops of the hills and pour the asphalt. Who cared if it was a public park. And who cared if it ruined the intended scenic view from the new northbound lanes of the freeway. And if that wasn’t bad enough, turn the meeting place of the Los Angeles River and the Arroyo Seco just to the east into a concrete drain of an industrial sewer (can’t blame that on Caltrans, though). Top it all off with the Golden State Freeway!

Caltrans was never big on aesthetics or environmental mitigation. And looking at their new District 7 headquarters building downtown, it doesn’t look like they ever will be either.