The Long Beach City Council on Tuesday approved paying up to $859,625 to build a signature sign outside the Long Beach Airport.
When it’s finished, 12-foot-tall letters illuminated by internal LEDs at night will spell out “Fly LONG BEACH” along the airport’s eastern edge. It will be on Lakewood Boulevard, just south of Spring Street — right before Lakewood enters the tunnel under the runway.
“The sign’s location at a visible focal point within the greater Airport complex will embody the City brand and it will provide travelers with a branded sense of arrival at both the Long Beach Airport and the City,” according to a report from Airport Director Cynthia Guidry.
Construction is expected to start in September and wrap up about seven months later, Guidry’s report said.
In recent years, the city has been constructing signs like this as it tries to reinforce its brand at major entry points.
This sign is similar in style to the “LONG BEACH” monuments outside City Hall and along Shoreline Drive at the end of the 710 Freeway.
A pedestrian bridge that crosses over Seventh Street near Cal State Long Beach was also slated to get a similar facelift, welcoming visitors coming into the city from the east.
Despite being announced in 2022, construction on that project hasn’t started. The city is currently testing some of the planned building materials before it can get a required permit from Caltrans, according to Jocelin Padilla-Razo, a spokesperson with the Public Works Department.
The $859,625 budget for the new Lakewood Boulevard sign is slated to come from the Airport’s operating budget, according to Guidry’s report.
Glendale-based Hart Design Build Inc. will construct the sign because it submitted the lowest responsible bid, according to the report.