Construction on the 70-year-old Second Street Bridge was originally set to begin late this summer, but Long Beach officials have backed off that timeline and do not have an estimated start date.
The bridge is a short yet crucial connection from Naples Island to the Marina Pacific shopping area. Getting across the Alamitos Bay any other way requires a major detour.
Officials are currently weighing whether the project to replace the aging concrete deck can be completed before the arrival of the 2028 Olympics, when Long Beach will host 11 sports.
The project would add protected bike lanes, more lighting and a new concrete deck. But while it’s in progress, the work will choke traffic for 18-24 months by reducing travel lanes in both directions during construction.
Original plans for the $20.3 million project called for construction to begin this September and finish by January 2028. The area’s councilmember, Kristina Duggan, has concerns.
“I am asking that this project be delayed until after LA28 with design changes, as the bridge cannot be under construction during the Olympic Games,” Duggan wrote in a Feb. 14 newsletter.
Residents, too, are worried about “additional congestion” and “emergency access” during construction, she wrote.
At a town hall with Duggan Wednesday, one resident expressed concern over a potential overlap with the nearby project on Studebaker Road, which is one of the easiest ways to get around the bridge. That $65 million overhaul will add new sidewalks, traffic signals and protected bike lanes to more than 5 miles of Studebaker stretching from Second Street to Carson Avenue. The project began last October with an estimated completion in fall 2027.
With the Second Street Bridge project’s start date in limbo, project staff will meet with federal officials to see if they can extend beyond 2028 a $17.8 million federal grant helping fund the work, Joseph Khilla, one of the city engineers on the project, said. The rest of the project is funded by $2.5 in Measure A sales tax funds.
Why is this happening now?
A 2017 Los Angeles County bridge inspection found the Second Street Bridge deck needs to be replaced. It deemed the bridge “structurally deficient” after spotting signs of wear on its underside. A follow-up study in 2019 confirmed that the concrete bridge deck is crumbling.
The “structurally deficient” label means that the bridge is due for repairs to extend its life, not that it’s unsafe for travel, Khilla said.
The bridge, officially named the J.H. Davies Bridge, was built in 1956 but didn’t host vehicle traffic until city crews finished the roads connecting both sides in 1959.
Construction plans call for the bridge to remain open to traffic, but reduce westbound travel to two lanes and eastbound travel to one lane. When fully open, the bridge has three lanes of traffic on each side.
The original design eliminated the off-ramp lane to Appian Way in favor of more room for pedestrians and bicyclists, but after input from a community meeting, the engineering team altered the design to maintain the off-ramp. That change results in 2 fewer feet of space for pedestrians and bicycle traffic across the bridge.
Designs have not been finalized for how the pedestrian and bicycle area will be marked, Khilla said. The original design allowed 6 feet for pedestrians and 6 feet for bicyclists with clearly designed lanes.
When will they decide on a construction timeline?
It’s not clear yet.
Once the final design is in hand, officials can weigh whether to offer incentives for a contractor to complete the project ahead of the Olympics or delay it, Khilla said.
“There’s different things we can do on the engineering front to try to get this done quickly or maybe it is a smart move to wait until later,” Khilla said.
By comparison, the Vincent Thomas Bridge, which connects San Pedro to Long Beach, is in a similar race to finish before the Olympics. Caltrans officials opted to close the bridge completely for 16 months starting this fall to replace the concrete bridge deck to the tune of $706 million.
Learn more and track project updates here.