When people talk about what it takes to create a pleasant urban walking environment, they might emphasize things like nice shops, street trees, and benches. Rarely does one focus on the necessity of sidewalks. For the most part we take sidewalks for granted; if we see a street there is very likely a raised curb and sidewalk on either side. In Long Beach we expect to see sidewalks: this is a city, after all, and not a rural area where sidewalks might seem impractical. Yet there are places in the city without sidewalks, not the industrial areas of the Westside or the yet-to-be-restored wetlands on the Eastside. No, places that should be among the most pedestrian-friendly portions of our city: parks and the residential neighborhoods that surround them.
When driving along Pacific Coast Highway between Anaheim and 7th Street, you might notice that there are no sidewalks on either side of the street in the area of Recreation Park. Even other streets that bound this park (Anaheim to the north, Santiago Avenue to the east, and 6th Street to the west) are without sidewalks alongside the park. Although automobile traffic along 6th Street and Santiago Avenue is not so great as to discourage pedestrian activity, both Pacific Coast Highway and Anaheim Street are another matter. Traffic volume and speed on these two streets are so significant that separation between cars and pedestrians is necessary for pedestrian safety.
Recreation Park is surrounded by large residential neighborhoods, a number of commercial centers, and Wilson High School. The lack of sidewalks limits the ability of local residents, students, and shoppers to access Recreation Park, except by getting in their car to drive a quarter mile to the nearest parking lot for the park. The situation is even worse for those businesses and residents along Pacific Coast Highway just east of the park; a neighborhood that includes a number of large residential complexes, a shopping center, office buildings, and a hotel. This length of Pacific Coast Highway between 7th Street and Anaheim Street has no intersections and few side streets feeding into it, resulting in few alternatives for pedestrians other than walking in the street.
The foundation is already there for a rich mixed-use neighborhood where residents could walk to work, dining, and shopping. The park offers a rich variety of recreational activities (hence the name), including a dog park, teen center, minor league baseball field, band shell, a pair of golf courses, over a half dozen tennis courts, and three lawn bowling greens. In addition to everything in the park, there are also the two stages of the Long Beach Playhouse, Wilson High School’s theater, and rehearsal facilities for Music Theater West. All of these attractions are within reasonable walking distance—if only there was some accommodation for pedestrians.
When configuring streets within a public right of way, traffic engineers must weigh the needs of automobile traffic against the need for pedestrian (and bicycle) facilities. When the right of way is narrow, for example, there sometimes have to be tradeoffs between automobile and pedestrian mobility. In such cases a larger philosophical discussion needs to take place between mobility planners and city policy makers; our elected officials. But the streets forming Recreation Park’s boundaries all provide enough width to accommodate sidewalks. Their adjacency to the park even makes possible a rich pedestrian environment, including wide parkways, street trees, and even bike lanes.
In fact, the public right-of-way for Pacific Coast Highway between 7th Street and Anaheim Street is over a hundred feet wide. This could allow for maintaining the existing number of car lanes while providing landscaping and amenities to encourage residents to leave their cars behind. In fact, the length of Pacific Coast Highway from the traffic circle to the border of Seal Beach is an ideal candidate for what is termed a “complete street.” Complete the Streets is a nationwide effort encouraging city planners, engineers, and designers to build road networks that welcome all citizens. The goal is to design streets that will facilitate all mobility options, including automobiles, bicycles, pedestrians, and public transit. This can take a variety of forms depending on the type of street, from major corridors to intimate neighborhood streets. The goal of this effort along Pacific Coast Highway would be to facilitate alternate mobility options that the existing mixed-use development pattern already can support. This would radically change the character of this part of Long Beach: it could shift from an auto-dominated highway to a varied streetscape with every bit the attraction of Ocean Boulevard downtown. This stretch of Pacific Coast Highway could be transformed from a barrier, keeping people in their homes to a reason to step out and experience the many local attractions of this vibrant and exciting part of the city.
Before and after, courtesy of Complete the Streets
