(March 10, 2009) -- For years, Caltrans and the OC Transportation Authority have planned to close the 7th St. bridge from the 405/22 freeway (a popular westbound gateway into LB) for roughly a year as part of a project to link carpool lanes and expand the 405/605 interchange.

So...exactly where do state and OC agency officials plan to dump that extra traffic for a year? On what streets? Into what neighborhoods?

Why isn't information about planned detours in LB (not just engineer's planned closures for surrounding areas) on their taxpayer supported website?

Whom did OC and Caltrans speak to at City Hall about this...before announcing their March 12 LB meeting (the only one planned in LB (with others in Seal Beach, Rossmoor, etc.) to let us know what they have planned for us?

We have a call into OCTA to ask about these and other matters.

OCTA calls the meeting an "open house," but that's a misnomer. You don't hold an "open house" in someone else's house to announce what you're going to do to them.

No one contacted LBReport.com about this. We only learned about it when our Community Correspondent, Daryl Supernaw, heard about it through his neighborhood contacts.

3rd dist. Councilman Gary DeLong used email to spread the word to neighborhood groups likely affected.

"Attached is a flyer I received from the Orange County Transportation Authority earlier today," he emailed some 3rd dist. neighborhood group leaders on or about March 4-5 "Since this closure will impact your neighborhood, you may wish to attend the community meeting on March 12th from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. at Kettering Elementary School. I would also suggest that you forward this information along to your neighbors."

That's fine, but residents from all over LB -- and those heading into LB from OC and points south -- who use the 405 7th St. accessway to get into town will be affected.

No, it's not the end of the world but yes, it is a LB-impacting newsworthy story...and to our knowledge, LBReport.com is the only LB media outlet that has reported it thus far.

Some of our competitors may scramble to catch up; others may consider it a non-story; some may be big enough to acknowledge that LBReport.com reported it first; lesser sorts will pretend that we didn't.

No, this isn't investigative reporting. It's community news reported by one of LBReport.com's Community Correrspondents, Daryl Supernaw.

And yes, we'll continue to follow this story.

If you'd like to join LBReport.com in reporting news that affects your neighborhood and LB taxpayers, and you're not afraid to tell the truth even if it may annoy some elected officials or candidates or special interests or government bureaucrats, email us at mail@LBReport.com.

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And thank you...from LBReport.com.