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Obama To Get Stretch Of Freeway Named After Him

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President Barack Obama may have been a student at Occidental College for a short time, but in honor of his service and temporary residence in Southern California, part of the 134 Freeway between the 210 Freeway and 2 Freeway interchanges is being renamed the President Barack H. Obama Freeway.

California legislators approved the move Tuesday.

It is the first freeway in the nation to be named for the former president.

Obama was a student at Occidental from 1979 to 1981 before transferring to New York's Columbia University, the Los Angeles Times reports.

State Sen. Anthony Portantino proposed the name change with the original idea stemming from Los Angeles activist John Gallogly. The vote was 38-0.

Obama used the stretch of freeway to commute to campus from the Pasadena home where he was living at the time.

That home has since had a plaque placed in front of it, which gave Gallogly the idea.

Private money will be raised to pay for new signs on the freeway. The signs could cost from $3K to $7K.

The LA City Council also unanimously voted in June to rename part of Rodeo Road, from Jefferson Boulevard to Arlington Avenue near South LA, as Obama Boulevard.