Huntington Drive - Fremont Ave Corridor Improvement Project

10/30/2026 UPDATE: Although originally bundled as one project, the Huntington Drive portion of the project will move forward as planned. However, the portion along Fremont Avenue will be delayed while the City considers technical challenges and resident feedback regarding existing right of way, prescriptive easements, parking, and landscaping.

The public is invited to attend a community meeting on Thursday, November 12, 2026, from 6:00 p.m. – 7:30 p.m. in the South Pasadena Middle School auditorium, located at 1500 Fair Oaks Ave., South Pasadena, CA 91030, to receive an update and share feedback on the project. A separate meeting for the Fremont Avenue portion will be scheduled once the City has more information and an updated project timeline.

About the Project

The Fremont Avenue and Huntington Drive Corridor Improvements Project has developed over several years through regional transportation funding, community input, and City planning efforts. Following the cancellation of the proposed SR-710 freeway extension, transportation funding that had been associated with the corridor became available for local mobility improvements in affected communities. South Pasadena ultimately secured $10 million in Measure R Mobility Improvement Program (MIP) funding from the reallocation of Interstate 710 funds, along with additional Measure M and other transportation funding, to improve mobility and safety within the City.

Beginning in 2017, residents raised concerns to the City Council and Commissions about traffic volumes, speeding, truck traffic, and pedestrian safety along Fremont Avenue. In response, the City began developing a longer-term vision for Fremont Avenue that included traffic calming, safer pedestrian crossings, bicycle improvements, pavement rehabilitation, and other Complete Streets improvements.

In 2023, the City hired Toole Design Group to work with the community and develop concepts for Fremont Avenue, Huntington Drive, and Fair Oaks Avenue. That planning effort established the foundation for the current project. The City subsequently hired Kimley-Horn and Associates in 2025 to advance the Fremont Avenue and Huntington Drive improvements into engineering design. Since then, the City has continued to refine the project through community meetings, technical analysis, and City Council direction, and the project is now progressing through detailed design toward construction.

Click on the links to view a Community Fact Sheet(PDF, 132KB) with basic project information along with the project Frequently Asked Questions(PDF, 307KB) document.

Project Funding

The City received two Metro grants in 2021 and 2022, originally totaling $16 million, for improvements on Huntington Drive and Fremont Avenue. The first $6 million grant is from the Measure M Active Transportation Program (MAT), approved in September 2022. The second $10 million grant comes from reallocating Interstate 710 funds through the Measure R program for local mobility improvement projects (MIP), approved in August 2021. The City also has approximately $500,000 in State Highway Safety Improvement Program Funds allocated for construction.

The $6 million MAT grant aims to enhance safety and traffic flow for pedestrians, cyclists, bus riders, and vehicles along Huntington Drive and Fremont Avenue in the City. The project covers a 1.5-mile section of Huntington Drive between Alhambra Road and Garfield Avenue, and a 1.8-mile portion of Fremont Avenue, between Alhambra Road in the south to Columbia Street in the north.

The Measure R MIP grant focuses on enhancing transportation management and demand in the area. It prioritizes improvements related to transportation system management (TSM) and transportation demand management (TDM). The grant aims to upgrade local intersections, traffic signals, and intelligent transportation systems (ITS) along Fremont Avenue and Huntington Drive. Additionally, it targets improvements at the intersections of Fair Oaks Avenue and Huntington Drive, and Fremont Avenue and Huntington Drive. These enhancements are designed to alleviate congestion, reduce traffic conflicts, improve overall corridor mobility for various transportation modes, enhance safety, and create system reliability along these corridors.

In May 2026, City Council approved the reallocation of an additional $30 million in Measure R MIP funding previously programmed for the SR-110 ramp project to the Huntington Drive and Fremont Avenue Corridor Improvements Project. Metro subsequently approved the reallocation and is completing the formal process to transfer the funding allocation. This action increases the total Measure R MIP allocation for the corridor project from $10 million to $40 million.

This brings the overall project funding to approximately $46 million.

Charette Process

The City engaged the staff at Toole Design to develop a charrette approach seeking public input on the proposed improvements. The charrette process took place in the summer and fall of 2023. Concepts aimed to reduce congestion on the corridor, enhance multimodal mobility, and reduce safety concerns along the corridors. Technical traffic warrant studies were not conducted at the time, and improvement recommendations will be further analyzed during the design phase.

Tool Design Group Report(PDF, 25MB)

Design Process

On July 9th, 2025, the City released a Request for Proposals (RFP) from qualified professional civil/traffic engineering firms experienced in the design of roadway and traffic signal design/improvements.

On October 1st, 2025, the City approved the selection of Kimley-Horn as the design consultant for the Huntington Drive and Fremont Avenue Corridor Improvements Project.

The project team, including Kimley-Horn staff and City staff, presented several design concepts to the public at a series of community meetings in spring 2026. Based on residents' feedback, the design concepts were revised before being brought to the City Council.

The City Council approved the design concepts for Huntington Drive on May 6, 2026, and Fremont Avenue on June 3, 2026. The project team is continuing to refine the design.

Community Outreach

A series of community outreach events have been held to gather input from residents and stakeholders. These meetings provide an opportunity for the community to share feedback and help shape the conceptual design of the Huntington Drive and Fremont Avenue corridors.

As part of the early design phase, the City and its design consultant, Kimley Horn, hosted three community meetings on February 23, March 5, and March 31, 2026, to seek resident input on proposed design concepts for the corridors.

During the first meeting on February 23, the City and Kimley Horn presented an overview of the project and several design concepts for public input. Afterward, participants were directed to display tables to interact and provide feedback on the proposed designs.

In response to significant and valuable feedback that staff received, several adjustments were made to the meeting format as well as the proposed design concepts for the second meeting on March 5. These changes give special consideration to protected bike lanes, reduced speeding, safety measures, concurrence with the 2023 Toole Design study, and tree preservation. The presentation was followed by a Q&A session and an open house with display tables featuring the modified concepts.

A third community meeting took place on March 31 at 1115 El Centro St. During the meeting, the project team presented modified design concepts, which were adjusted based on the first two community meetings, and included project intersection design examples. The meeting began with an overview presentation and a Q&A session. Afterward, participants visited display tables of the corridors in an open-house format.

Click below to view the presentation from each of the first three community meetings:

Community Meeting #1 Presentation(PDF, 4MB)

Community Meeting #2 Presentation(PDF, 4MB)

Community Meeting #3 Presentation(PDF, 10MB)

The project team presented the updated design concepts to the City Council, with the concept for Huntington Drive approved on May 6 and the concepts for Fremont Avenue approved on June 3.

Approved Design Concepts (PDF, 3MB)

Two additional community meetings were held on August 31 and September 1 to provide project updates and additional considerations for the approved design concepts.

Community Meeting #4 Presentation(PDF, 5MB)

Community Meeting #5 Presentation(PDF, 5MB)

The public is invited to attend a community meeting on Thursday, November 12, 2026, from 6:00 p.m. – 7:30 p.m. in the South Pasadena Middle School auditorium, located at 1500 Fair Oaks Ave., South Pasadena, CA 91030, to receive an update and share feedback on the project. The focus of this meeting will be on the Huntington Drive portion of the project.

Resources

Frequently Asked Questions Sheet (Revised September 2026)(PDF, 307KB)

Community Fact Sheet (Revised September 2026)(PDF, 121KB)

Huntington Drive Roll Plot(PDF, 18MB)

Fremont Avenue Roll Plot (PDF, 23MB)

Bicycle Master Plan (2011)(PDF, 13MB)

South Pasadena General Plan Part B, Chapter 4: Our Accessible Community (PDF, 17MB)

Huntington Drive and Fremont Avenue Traffic Corridor Study(PDF, 44MB)

South Pasadena Complete Streets Policy Resolution No. 7497(PDF, 2MB)

Project Schedule

Winter - Fall 2026 - Community Outreach

Fall 2026 - Project Approval & Environmental Document (PA&ED)

Winter 2026 - Final Design

Early 2027 - Construction Bidding

Spring 2027 - Start Construction

Summer 2028 - Construction Ends

Interactive Map

PublicCoordinate is an interactive map, available for community members to provide location-specific feedback on the project corridors. By clicking on the map, you can submit comments related to Huntington Drive and Fremont Avenue. Local input is essential to the design process to reflect community priorities.

Click here for interactive map