A memorial to ‘Freeway Fighter’ Joanne Nuckols showcases ‘power of people’ to stop 710 Freeway extension

The 710 Freeway extension most likely would have been built, either on the surface, or in a tunnel beneath the communities of El Sereno, South Pasadena and Pasadena, if Joanne Nuckols wasn’t there to stop it.

Nuckols, who embodied the 60-year community opposition that eventually killed the long-planned 4.5-mile freeway extension, died on Aug. 19. Her life and extensive efforts fighting the 710 north extension were remembered Saturday, Feb. 28, in South Pasadena by family, friends, elected officials and fellow “Freeway Fighters” who praised her for doing something that rarely happened in car-centric Southern California: Stopping the extension of a freeway.

“It speaks to the power of the people, and individuals like Joanne Nuckols,” said Mark Gallatin, a member of her “No on 710 Coalition” and board member of the South Pasadena Preservation Foundation. “It was her laser-like focus on this issue that kept it up for so many years.”

Her actions, along with environmental groups and officials from this small city of 25,000 for close to six decades that constituted the longest running freeway fight in U.S. history.

For those in South Pasadena, Pasadena and other San Gabriel Valley cities who opposed the freeway extension, Nuckols was a hero who persevered for decades and eventually got LA Metro, Caltrans, Gov. Gavin Newsom and the California Secretary of Transportation to say no to a freeway — either on the surface or in a later proposal, a 6.3-mile tunnel with no exits that would’ve cost upwards of $7 billion. The extension that first appeared on a Caltrans map in 1959 officially ended in November 2018.

It was Nuckols who grew an effective, grass-roots coalition that killed the surface route in 2003 that would have required the demolition of 976 houses, including many in Pasadena along a “millionaires row” designed by recognized architects. Even the childhood home of the famous chef Julia Child in Pasadena was on the chopping block.

For the next 15 years she and others fought the freeway-tunnel project, raising the dangers of air vents that would pipe out tailpipe emissions into the air, and emergency issues, including what would happen if drivers could not escape after a crash, fire, or hazardous materials spill.

Since the scare of that early map, the group originally called Citizens United to Save South Pasadena grew into a multigenerational band of tenacious residents who persisted for six decades, always hell-bent on stopping the freeway, even saying they were not-in-my-backyarders who said for a minute or two of commute savings, whole towns should not be destroyed forever.

In 1990, Lorna Moore moved into South Pasadena in a house on Grace Hill and was told the proposed freeway would never happen. Then Caltrans began its push, buying up homes for demolition and LA Metro began its support. She quickly collected 500 signatures on a petition and sent them to Citizens United, even writing regular Letters to the Editor to the Pasadena Star-News.

That began a relationship with Nuckols that Moore described as “comrades in arms” as they attended meetings at LA Metro, Southern California Association of Governments and in Sacramento and Washington D.C. along with city officials. Moore was someone who read every document and told the group that even with a freeway through town, the intersections would get an “F” in level of service.

The group, along with the Sierra Club, was granted a court injunction in 1973, halting all plans until Caltrans completed a full environmental analysis.

The 4.5-mile gap would take up about 6 miles of a surface route roughly from Valley Boulevard and along Meridian Avenue and would require the demolition of 976 houses. Caltrans bought up 500 to clear the path, many still owned by the state transportation agency. Many have been sold recently, but the process is slow.

In the 1980s and 1990s, opponents from South Pasadena, plus historic preservation and environmental groups, fought the environmental impact report’s recommendations, until the Federal Highway Administration in 2003 withdrew its support for the surface freeway.

Moore said the point that resonated best among the small city’s residents was the division the freeway would cause, dividing the city into four parts. “Yes, it took legal action. But the legal thing wasn’t always working. We needed to change public opinion,” Moore said on Saturday.

Bill Sherman, who attended the memorial service, was part of Nuckols’ coalition for decades. He called Nuckols “a star,” “a good friend” and “our leader” who forged personal relationships with top officials at Caltrans, LA Metro and used friendly persuasion and her acquired knowledge of transportation talk to make her position known.

He said the high cost of what would be the longest tunnel roadway in California sunk the latest proposal; that and reluctance from taxpayers to pay for it.

“At one meeting, I said: ‘Has anybody watched ‘Jerry Maguire?,’ with Sherman shouting: “Show me the money. You don’t have it.”

Sherman said Nuckols taught him never to stop fighting. “What I learned is that the people can make a difference, and it’s not just government officials that can make changes. Joanne taught me that.”

Six years after the surface freeway was scrapped, the freeway extension was back in a new form, as a tunnel, proposed by Caltrans and the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (LA Metro). The opposition, now joined by Pasadena, Sierra Madre, La Cañada Flintridge, Los Angeles and Glendale formed the No 710 Action Coalition. Not surprising to Caltrans officials, the group rejected the tunnel concept, finding holes in reports on air pollution and anticipated costs.

The fight continued, contentious as always, with Nuckols at the helm of the anti-freeway-tunnel fight.

“She stood up to enormous institutional power and prevailed,” said current South Pasadena Mayor Sheila Rossi at the memorial. “She knew exactly who to engage and how to move the work forward without unnecessary friction and she did it with discipline, humor and love.”

Finally, the agencies that pushed the project threw in the towel.

Metro voted down the tunnel project in May 2017, saying the price tag, estimated between $5 billion and $7 billion, and a lack of political will would make the tunnel unbuildable. Caltrans followed in November 2018, certifying the latest environmental documents but eliminating the tunnel option.

Caltrans opted for a low-build alternative which allows cities to widen roads, add bus and bike lanes and synchronize traffic signals on local thoroughfares to reduce bottlenecks caused by the freeway’s abrupt end near Alhambra just north of the 10 Freeway.

Cities of San Marino, Alhambra and Rosemead all favored the freeway and lament the decision not to build it. Today, traffic still builds up on Fremont Avenue as vehicles exit the freeway at Valley Boulevard, using nearby Fremont as a north-south route into San Marino and Pasadena.

South Pasadena City Councilmember Janet Braun called Nuckols “an icon” who pulled out all the stops to make her case against the freeway. “This was a fight never just about concrete and asphalt but about people, homes and the soul of our community. She helped preserve the identify of a community that refused to be defined by a freeway line on a map, or a tunnel.”

Brett Nuckols, her son who now lives in the Bay Area, said he was pleased to come back to his hometown of so many Craftsman homes, often more than 100 years old. His father, Tom Nuckols said his wife began her community involvement by helping preserve these special homes, including her own, and many that would’ve been removed for the freeway. He said now 85% of the city’s Craftsman homes have been restored.

“Thanks, Joanne. We promise to keep the success going,” added Braun.

The story of the “Freeway Fighters” in the form of short videos are kept at the South Pasadena Library and on its website. An archival collection of emails, documents and press clippings was created after freewas was voted down and is stored at the library as well.