OCTA Shows LB The Money -- $1.5 Mil -- To Mitigate Impacts Of Upcoming Yearlong Closure Of 7th St. Bridge/Ramp (N-bound 405 Offramp Into LB); Councilman O'Donnell Says Funds "Will Help Protect Neighborhoods & Quickly Respond To Project Impacts"
(Oct. 27, 2009) -- Following-up on a story whose LB neighborhood impacts were first detailed in March by LBReport.com community correspondent Daryl Supernaw, the OCTA/CalTrans project that will close the 7th Street bridge/offramp from the northbound 405 freeway into LB for roughly a year will now include $1.5 million from the Orange County Transportation Authority to mitigate its LB traffic impacts.
The outcome is the result of successful negotiations pressed by 4th dist. Councilman Patrick O'Donnell and city staff, following a series of public meetings at which residents likewise voiced concerns about losing the 7th St. bridge offramp, a heavily used westbound accessway into LB. Councilman O'Donnell was especially concerned about the effects on ELB and the CSULB area when traffic now carried by the 7th St. bridge will likely end up on other ELB freeway offramps and city streets.
Image source: OCTA
"This money will help us protect our neighborhoods and quickly respond to project impacts," said O'Donnell in a release.
In March, LBReport.com correspondent Supernaw was first to detail in LB media that the OCTA West County Connectors project (scheduled to begin in January 2010), involves widening and changing parts of the 405, 22 and 605 freeways...and roughly a year's worth of construction will close all westbound lanes exiting the 405 freeway via the westbound 22 freeway and 7th Street off-ramp.
Councilman O'Donnell, along with city staff, raised concerns about the project’s impacts on East Long Beach and the potential costs to the City for law enforcement and infrastructure needs...and criticized the OCTA for originally offering no funding to address these impacts.
O'Donnell said his office is happy to report success...with the million and a half in mitigation funds for, among other things, traffic and pavement improvement, traffic enforcement and other infrastructure impacts. The funding also includes dollars for a "rapid response fund" to address unforeseen neighborhood or arterial impacts.
"If we sat on our hands and kept silent, our City would have lost out," Councilmember O'Donnell said in a release. "We fought for our neighborhoods and succeeded in bringing back over one million dollars to protect them."
A vote by the City Council is required to execute the agreement with OCTA and is scheduled for the November 3 Council meeting, and will include a discussion of mitigation measures. The City Attorney's office agendizing memo notes:
Of particular concern are the access and traffic impacts the West County
Connectors project will have on the eastern portion of Long Beach . The largest
impact is expected to occur during the removal and reconstruction of the
northbound 1-405 connector to 7th Street, which will result in the loss of access for
approximately one year . That connector currently carries approximately 30,000
vehicles a day into Long Beach . During the construction phase of this Project,
traffic is expected to be diverted from the freeway and the connector route to
Studebaker Road, Atherton, Bellflower, Spring and Palo Verde Streets . In order to
insure adequate traffic mitigation during the construction period, staff has been
negotiating with OCTA for OCTA to provide certain traffic improvements that are expected to lessen the anticipated construction impacts. As a result of the negotiations, OCTA has agreed to provide the following traffic mitigation measures:
1 . OCTA will provide funding for expected City staff time
during the construction period. $ 360,000
2 . OCTA will provide funding for pavement restoration on detour routes. $ 250,000.
3 . OCTA will add a lane to south 1-405 & south 1-605 to 7th Street connector. (OCTA to
construct)
4. OCTA will provide funding for Studebaker Road traffic enhancements. $ 600,000
5. OCTA will provide funding for 2nd Street and Studebaker Road intersection enhancements. $100,000
6. OCTA will provide funding for Palo Verde Avenue traffic enhancements. $ 200,000
Total : $1,510,000...
To view the item as agendized by the City Attorney's office, click here.
