Long Beach officials revealed updated plans Saturday for a new $900 million bridge that is slated to replace the aging Shoemaker Bridge and add 5.6 acres of park space to Downtown, something the city hopes to complete by 2028.
The new renderings show a modern cable-stayed bridge with 240-foot tall angled arches that meet in the middle of the 765-foot-wide bridge. Building the new structure is part of a plan to realign Shoreline Drive, which would significantly change how drivers enter and exit the 710 Freeway in Downtown.
The current plans have cars using a new roundabout that will circulate traffic onto the bridge, 710 Freeway or city streets.
Some other proposed features include a protected bike lane that would connect Fashion Avenue to the Los Angeles River bike path on the east side of the river as well as a pedestrian observation point on the south side of the bridge that looks toward Downtown. The design shown to the public has not been finalized.
Long Beach received a $30 million federal grant earlier this year for the realignment portion of the project that will add northbound lanes alongside Shoreline Drive’s current southbound lanes and eliminate the separate northbound section that has left an unusable patch of green space west of Cesar E. Chavez Park for decades.
The city has estimated that part of the project will cost about $60 million.
Designs for the Shoreline Drive realignment are expected to be completed in the spring with construction on the project expected to start sometime in 2024 or 2025, according to Joy Contreras, a spokesperson for Public Works. However, she said it’s too early to tell how long that work would take to complete once it begins.
“It’s going to take some time because there are a lot more utilities and inter-jurisdictional areas to navigate,” Contreras said.
Part of the project will relocate an existing electricity facility to make room for new landscaping that will become part of Chavez Park.
Projected costs to build the bridge have grown significantly over the years with an original mark of $350 million escalating to $650 million earlier this year. Now, city officials say Long Beach is looking to secure $900 million for the project, which it hopes to build in advance of the 2028 Olympics.
Contreras said that the new bridge, which is expected to be built just south of the existing Shoemaker Bridge, would be completed before the old one is demolished to allow traffic to continue to enter and exit Downtown during construction.
The work will be completed in phases with some of the park improvements projected to be among the last things crews finish, according to plans presented at a community meeting Saturday afternoon.
The end result would connect Chavez Park to Drake Park, which is north of Seventh Street.
Once the bridge is complete, the Sixth Street exit will be eliminated and Seventh Street will become a two-way street to allow traffic to enter and exit the 710 through the new roundabout.
The bridge’s design is expected to allow more movement for wildlife living in the river below because it will have fewer piers in its base. The design is also expected to be able to withstand seismic activity and sea level rise, according to the city.