Long Beach Public Works will host a community town hall next month to garner public opinion on the Orange Avenue Backbone Bikeway, which is intended to make Orange and Alamitos Avenues more accessible and safer for multiple modes of transportation.
This $30 million initiative is part of Elevate ‘28, Long Beach’s five-year infrastructure effort — made up of nearly 200 projects — intended to renovate the city’s parks, facilities and transportation. The Orange Avenue Backbone Bikeway improvements are in line with the Safe Streets Long Beach plan with the goal to rid the city of traffic-related fatalities and serious injuries by 2026.
Within the Vision Zero Action Plan, Orange Avenue was identified as an area of local transportation with the most traffic collisions where pedestrians were killed or seriously injured. Protected bike lanes and intersections, high-visibility crosswalks and additional accessibility enhancements for pedestrians and public transit riders are planned for the project.
Team members working on the project will spend the meeting discussing the proposed changes and giving attendees the chance to ask questions and provide feedback. Language interpretation services will be available in Spanish, Khmer and Tagalog. Families are welcome to bring their children and there will be light refreshments at the event.
The project is provisionally scheduled to go to bid in late summer, with construction expected to start in late winter.
The town hall for the Orange Avenue Backbone Bikeway will take place Thursday, Feb. 13 from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. at the Expo Arts Center (4321 Atlantic Ave.). No RSVP is required. To learn about the project, visit its web page at longbeach.gov/orangeaveproject or email contactLBPW@longbeach.gov.