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Readers React: How much will the 710 tunnel really cost?

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To the editor: I find the $5.4-billion cost to finish the 710 Freeway by boring a tunnel between Alhambra and Pasadena — underneath those communities in addition to South Pasadena — to be a gross underestimate. (“Officials consider extending 710 Freeway with tunnels,” Oct. 21)

In 2007, the Southern California Assn. of Governments estimated the cost of the 710 twin tunnels to be $11.8 billion. The two-mile-long Alaska Way tunnel in Seattle, which is the same diameter as proposed for the 710 and is under construction, will cost an estimated $3.1 billion. With two tunnels for the 710, the $5.4-billion figure seems to fall short.

Have we all become so desensitized to these big numbers that no one questions them anymore?

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Joanne Nuckols, South Pasadena

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To the editor: A tunnel to fix the 710 gap between Alhambra and Pasadena may be great for relieving traffic, but all I can think of is: earthquake!

Crista Worthy, Boise, Idaho

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