90 Freeway May Be Renamed 'Ballona Freeway'

Los Angeles City Councilman Mike Bonin on Tuesday introduced a resolution to the City Council asking the city to support state legislation that would rename the 90 Freeway to the "Ballona Freeway."

State Route 90, currently known as the "Marina Freeway," connects the 405 Freeway and Marina del Rey on a mostly elevated roadway that eventually passes over the Ballona Wetlands.

According to Bonin's resolution, the freeway rename would remind drivers of the natural beauty around them as they pass over the state-protected wetlands below.

"While the name 'Marina Freeway' is descriptive of the road's westbound destination, it gives the freeway the name of the area's man made feature – the marina of Marina del Rey – instead of the natural habitat surrounding the area," Bonin wrote in his resolution. "Much of the surrounding preserved lands are designated as the Ballona Wetlands Ecological Reserve, which is one of the last wetlands in the Los Angeles Basin."

Bonin's resolution, if passed, will offer official support of the rename from the City of Los Angeles. For an official name change to occur, legislation on the state level must occur.

Bonin's rename, if passed, would also not the first time SR-90 has been given another name. For a short time, the freeway was known as the "Richard M. Nixon Freeway" before being named the "Marina Freeway."

Bonin did not specify costs associated with renaming the freeway.