The Long Beach City Council I-710 Oversight Committee was appointed on June 17, 2003, charged with the responsibility of addressing the significant policy issues that the City faces regarding the improvements to the I-710 Freeway. This Committee began working with residents and businesses along the I-710 Corridor to develop a solution for improving the I-710 Freeway that serves both the traveling public and the residents and businesses that are most impacted by the I-710 Freeway.
Long Beach residents first voiced their concerns during the I-710 Major Corridor Study, a multi-agency regional study charged with developing an overall strategy to improve the I-710 Freeway from the Port to the I-60 Freeway. That study, which had identified hundreds of homes in Long Beach to be taken, has been set aside and a new process is underway to allow greater input from all of the communities along this 18-mile corridor.
The I-710 Oversight Committee has hosted 20 community meetings and workshops since August 2003, which have been attended by hundreds of Long Beach residents. The meetings were designed to gain input and to share information regarding the concerns of those most impacted by the operation of the I-710 Freeway.
At its initial meeting, the Committee and the City Council approved a number of actions, including the following Guiding Principles to provide a framework for the development of a locally preferred strategy for the improvement of the I-710 Freeway:
GUIDING PRINCIPLES FOR THE IMPROVEMENT OF I-710 FREEWAY
1. Improve public participation in the development and consideration of alternatives to provide technical assistance to facilitate effective public
participation.
2. Identify and minimize the cumulative exposure to toxic pollutants and noise for neighborhoods in the affected areas. 3. Minimize right-of-way acquisitions to preserve existing housing, businesses and open space. 4. Reduce air pollution through aggressive diesel emissions reduction programs and the use of alternative fuels. 5. Improve safety by reducing truck/automobile conflicts through improved roadway design. 6. Relieve congestion by employing a comprehensive, regional systems approach that includes freeway, roadway, rail and transit systems.
After hosting several community meetings, it became clear that the design of freeway improvements was just a part of the concerns of the residents along the corridor. On October 23, 2003, the I-710 Oversight Committee adopted the recommendation to acknowledge and address the four key issues that the community is most concerned about through a series of Community Roundtable Workshops. Those issues were:
KEY COMMUNITY ISSUES AND CONCERNS
Approved by the City Council on 11/04/03 1. Loss of Property and Neighborhood Impacts 2. Health, Environment and Noise 3. Truck Congestion, Safety and Impacts 4. Port Issues
Based on these concerns, the Long Beach I-710 City Council Oversight Committee held four community roundtable workshops:
January 22, 2004 Health & Environmental Concerns
January 29, 2004 Preserving Neighborhoods
February 5, 2004 Port Operations and the I-710 Freeway
February 12, 2004 Truck Congestion and Safety
Almost 350 people attended the four roundtable workshops where residents were able to interact with experts and get answers to their questions about the issues they care most about in regards to the I-710 Freeway. All four workshops were moderated by a local resident, with participation from community leaders and experts from various agencies, including the California Air Resources Board, the South Coast Air Quality Management District, Caltrans, Gateway Cities Council of Governments, the Army Corp of Engineers, and the Alameda Corridor Transportation Authority.
Each workshop generated a list of recommendations for the Long Beach I-710 Oversight Committee to consider as part of the planning process. The recommendations were considered by all of the community in attendance, and only those issues that received a consensus vote were included on the list to be brought forward to this committee. The consensus community recommendations were presented by representatives of the community that participated in formulating these recommendations, and were received and filed by the Committee at their meeting on February 25, 2004, and forwarded to the City Council and the regional I-710 committees that are continuing to meet on this issue.
On a parallel track, the Committee also continued to find common ground regarding the development of design concepts to provide guidance to the engineering consultant hired by the City, Meyer Mohaddes Associates (MMA), in the development of a Long Beach strategy to improve the I-710 Freeway. Design concepts were approved by the Committee on October 23rd and 28th, 2003:
DESIGN CONCEPTS TO IMPROVE THE I-710 FREEWAY
Approved by the City Council on 11/04
1. Eliminate unnecessary truck ramps at the 91 Freeway interchange to minimize right-of-way impacts. 2. Utilize the space between the existing freeway and the Los Angeles River to add capacity and minimize right-of-way impacts. 3. Separate cars from trucks at-grade for increased safety wherever possible, and construct elevated structures only when necessary to minimize right-of-way impacts. 4. Modify existing freeway on- and off-ramps to use “diamond” designs where possible to minimize right-of-way impacts and expand opportunities for green space. 5. Eliminate the Terminal Island Freeway extension to the I-710 Freeway. 6. Redesign the Shoemaker Bridge and realign the ramps into downtown Long Beach to expand Cesar Chavez Park.
As community meetings continued, MMA began the process of developing a design concept for the eight mile of freeway in Long Beach, with the understanding that the City was looking for a systems approach that addressed the issues and concerns of the residents as a condition of any physical improvements to the I-710 Freeway.
On March 18, 2004, after ten community meetings spanning seven months, a draft locally preferred strategy of the mainline improvements was presented to the I-710 Committee, which was released for comment. The draft strategy was presented at seven community meetings hosted by interested neighborhood associations:
§ March 25, 2004 West Long Beach Association § April 5, 2004 Wrigley Association § April 7, 2004 ProWest Neighbors United § April 8, 2004 West End Community Association § April 21, 2004 Coolidge Triangle Homeowners Assoc. § May 10, 2004 Sutter Academy § May 12, 2004 Los Cerritos Elementary School
The Committee also held two additional meetings to consider the comments and revisions to the draft plan that resulted from this series of meetings:
April 26, 2004 Update on comments to Draft strategy May 19, 2004 I-710 Citywide Town Hall Meeting
Numerous comments were received regarding the physical improvements proposed in the draft plan, which has subsequently been revised, as well as continuing concerns expressed regarding air quality, the impacts from Port operations and safety.
The policy of this Committee has continued to be that any physical improvements to the I-710 Freeway must also address the key issues and concerns that have been raised by the Long Beach community, and should also incorporate a systems approach that includes:
- Port diesel emission improvements
- Truck diesel emission improvements
- Enhanced Alameda Corridor
- On-dock rail
- Local street improvements
- Traffic signal enhancements
- Improved transit
- Fees to offset local impacts
Toward that end, this systems approach, along with the recommendations that have been collected regarding the community’s concerns, have been and will continue to be a part of the City’s I-710 Locally Preferred Strategy. An illustrated map has been developed that summarizes the more detailed design developed by MMA for the Long Beach I-710 Locally Preferred Strategy. This strategy, which includes more detailed maps of proposed improvements was approved by the I-710 Oversight Committee on June 16, 2004 and by the City Council on June 22, 2004. It has been forwarded to the regional I-710 Oversight Policy Committee and its subcommittees for incorporation into the locally preferred strategy for the full 18-mile I-710 Freeway Corridor.
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