Endeavour's LA road trip angers tree lovers

Tree stumps remain along Manchester Boulevard in the Los Angeles-area community of Inglewood, Calif., Sept. 5, 2012, after workers cut down trees slated removal to make way for moving the space shuttle Endeavour to its new home at Exposition Park. / Getty Images

(CBS News) The Los Angeles area plans to roll out the red carpet for the arrival of the space shuttle Endeavour at the expense of some area greenery, CBS Los Angeles reports.

More than 100 trees along the center divide of major thoroughfares are expected to be cut down in Los Angeles and the neighboring city of Inglewood for hauling Endeavour from Los Angeles International Airport to its new home at the California Science Center.

The shuttle took off from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida Wednesday morning for the last time and is expected to land in California Friday. Endeavour won't take to the streets until October, but the tree removal has already sparked outrage among some Californians.

(Watch at left Endeavour's final takeoff from the Kennedy Space Center)

Shuttle Endeavour takes off on farewell tour

"Nobody told the citizens; all we hear is the buzzsaws when we wake up," one woman told KCAL/KCBS.

"It's really hard to watch something that's been growing for over 100 years being just decimated," another resident said.

Some original estimates put the number of trees targeted for removal at around 400, but officials earlier this week agreed that 122 trees would be removed instead.

The science center has pledged to plant four new trees for each one taken down to make room for the 78-foot-wide shuttle. Endeavour's ground transportation along a 12-mile route is scheduled for Oct. 12.

[jberlat100]

We are happy to keep the Shuttle in Houston, where it rightly belongs to save the trees.

[DWileyOne]

This just proves that the thinking at City Hall is seriously sick. And the people at the California Science Center should be ashamed. The ONLY reason the trees are being cut down is because it's less expensive to kill a few trees than to dismantle the space shuttle sufficiently to be moved. It's all about the money.

[tsigili]

That would make this person, LIVID!

[mkrafft1]

wouldn't it be easier to take the wings off the shuttle and reattach them at the science center.

[KGriffinABQ]

a) 4 to 1 return on trees is a good thing and even better than the initial report that said they were going to do a 2 to 1
b) No, they cannot dismantle the shuttle due to its construction and the fragility of the heat tiles. They considered this, as well as all possible routes and ramifications to make this once in a lifetime process as smooth and as community impact neutral as possible.

[pwgrant]

silly! that would make too much sense.