Hearings Set on Retooling of Long Beach Freeway

Rebuilding the Long Beach Freeway could cost more than $4 billion and require the purchase of as many as 370 acres of land along a densely populated swath from Long Beach to Commerce, new research shows.

Environmental and community groups are calling for a halt in planning for the project, saying that public outreach has been seriously flawed.

In findings reviewed at a meeting Wednesday in Paramount, planners offered details of one of the most ambitious -- and expensive -- transportation projects proposed in the region. Just purchasing homes, businesses and other property to rebuild 18 miles of the freeway could cost $440 million, according to new estimates that planners caution could change.

Local officials are rushing to choose one of five designs this spring in hopes of obtaining federal funding. Many who support wholesale reconstruction of the freeway call it imperative to protect motorists and to ensure the flow of cargo to and from the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles, the busiest port complex in the nation.

Others are leery of the prospect of more trucks emitting diesel exhaust, a known carcinogen, in residential neighborhoods.

In a letter read at the meeting, 15 groups asked officials to delay any decision until they study alternatives that better protect public health. The letter was signed by such groups as Environmental Defense, Communities for a Better Environment, the River Project and Jornaleros Unidos de Sur Central Los Angeles, a labor group.William C. Pagett, chairman of a panel of local and state officials now reviewing the project, said that the panel is satisfied with public participation to date and that it will try to choose one of five plans by the end of April.

The most dramatic plan calls for building two exclusive truck lanes in each direction, elevated in some areas, from Long Beach north to East Los Angeles, for about $3.1 billion.

The most expensive plan would add one to two lanes in each direction for carpools and buses, elevated in some areas, and one to two lanes in each direction for other traffic, at $3.4 billion.

A less ambitious plan focuses on widening major cross streets, adding a lane in each direction in some areas and extending state routes 47 and 103 to the Long Beach Freeway north of the San Diego Freeway, at $3.4 billion.

The least expensive plan would ease traffic through techniques such as managing cargo flow, increasing the hours at port terminals and improving transit, at a cost of about $355 million. .

Pagett, chairman of the Technical Advisory Committee that met Wednesday, said the group may pick and choose elements of different designs.

The two key issues concerning residents appear to be safety and the need to separate cars and trucks, he said. He predicted that project costs could reach $6 billion, depending on which elements are chosen.

Construction would not start for several years and would take until 2013 or later to complete.

The project could force the removal of some homes and businesses, but specifics will not be known for months to come. Posters showing the imprint of freeway alternatives, superimposed on aerial photographs, can be reviewed at technical panel meetings.

Assemblyman Alan Lowenthal (D-Long Beach) is organizing a community open house on the project scheduled for 6:30 to 8 p.m. next Thursday at the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach. He said he is concerned about the safety of current cramped conditions on the freeway in Long Beach but is worried that enlarging the freeway could increase emissions of diesel exhaust.

The technical panel will hold more public meetings to hear reports and choose a plan:

* April 2: 1:30 p.m., Long Beach Energy Department, 2400 E. Spring St., Long Beach.

* April 9: 1:30 p.m., Progress Park Community Center, 15500 Downey Ave., Paramount.

* April 23: 1:30 p.m., Long Beach Energy Department.

Another technical panel meeting is planned for April 15, but the time and place have yet to be set.

Two state Assembly select committees will hold a hearing on the project and take testimony from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. April 4 at the Progress Park Community Center in Paramount.

Information also is available on the Web site of the Gateway Cities Council of Governments at www.gatewaycog.org.