City of Long Beach to Host Community Meetings for Orange Avenue Backbone Bikeway Project

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PRESS RELEASE

Long Beach, CA - The City of Long Beach Department of Public Works will host two community open house events on the Orange Avenue Backbone Bikeway, a project that will transform Orange and Alamitos Avenues into a safer, more accessible multi-modal corridor. The meetings will be held on Saturday, Nov. 16, 2024, from 2 to 3:30 p.m. at the Cal Rec Community Center at Ernest McBride Park (1550 Martin Luther King Ave.) and Wednesday, Nov. 20, 2024, from 6 to 7:30 p.m. at the EXPO Arts Center (4321 Atlantic Ave.).

An Elevate '28 project with an estimated budget of $30 million, the Orange Avenue Backbone Bikeway improvements are driven by the City's Safe Streets Long Beach initiative with the intent to eliminate traffic-related fatalities and serious injuries by 2026. In the Vision Zero Action Plan, Orange Avenue was identified as one of the City's minor arterials with the most traffic collisions resulting in pedestrians being killed or seriously injured. Planned safety and accessibility improvements throughout the corridor include protected bike lanes to form a continuous bikeway, protected intersections, high-visibility crosswalks, and other accessibility improvements for pedestrians and public transit riders.

At the meetings, the project team will share an overview of the proposed enhancements, followed by an interactive opportunity for attendees to ask questions and provide feedback. Feedback garnered at the meetings will inform the final design of the project. Both meetings will present the same information. Language interpretation services will be available in Spanish, Khmer, and Tagalog. Children are welcome to attend, and light refreshments will be provided.

Elevate '28 is a comprehensive five-year infrastructure initiative featuring nearly 200 projects designed to revitalize parks and community facilities while enhancing accessibility and multimodal transportation throughout Long Beach. Learn about the historic infrastructure investment currently underway at lbelevate28.com.

The Orange Avenue Backbone Bikeway project is tentatively scheduled to go to bid in late summer 2025, with construction anticipated to begin in late winter 2025, barring unforeseen circumstances. The project is one of several key projects, including work underway or planned on Studebaker Road, Pacific Avenue and Artesia Boulevard, that are converting Long Beach into a safer and more accessible community.

For more information about the project, visit the project webpage at longbeach.gov/orangeaveproject or email [email protected].

Media inquiries may be directed to Jocelin Padilla-Razo, Community Information Officer, Department of Public Works, at 562.570.4668 or [email protected].

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