Long Beach : Caltrans Sets Plans for 3 Freeway Sound Wall Jobs

The state Department of Transportation has announced plans for three freeway sound wall projects in the Long Beach area within the next two years.

Two sections of wall will be eligible for funding sometime this fiscal year on the Artesia (91) Freeway between Atlantic and Cherry avenues and between Paramount Boulevard and Downey Avenue, both in North Long Beach. The walls between Atlantic and Cherry will span about a mile and cost $4,057,000, including provision for widening the freeway. Between Paramount and Downey, the walls will cover half a mile and cost $1,083,000, according to William H. Minter, sound wall project engineer for Caltrans in Los Angeles. The concrete block walls about 11 to 12 feet tall will buffer residential neighborhoods on both sides of the elevated freeway.

On the San Diego (405) Freeway, sound walls will be added on both sides between Santa Fe Avenue and Alameda Street along the Long Beach border with Carson. Long Beach has undertaken to design these walls itself and wants to build them on a pay-back basis, Minter said, thereby lessening the cost to about $956,000. Work is scheduled sometime after July 1, 1990.