The only freeway ramp that directly connects Terminal Island to the Long Beach (710) Freeway is about to bite the dust, and that will mean several traffic signals on the detour for the heavy stream of trucks leaving the twin ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach.
The Port of Long Beach warned that the closure would happen in one month, on June 11, as the old ramp makes way for a new connection to the new $1.5 billion bridge linking Terminal Island to the 710 in Long Beach.
The connector ramp from the old Gerald Desmond Bridge to the 710 north could close as soon as 6 a.m. on Monday, port officials said. Weather and other factors may delay the plan.
Traffic heading off the island towards the 710 can either use the snaking detour in Long Beach, or use the Terminal Island (147) Freeway north, a detour that also involves city streets and traffic lights.
At the Gerald Desmond Bridge, eastbound traffic will be briefly diverted to a signal at Pico Avenue, where three left-turn lanes will present a challenge to the drivers in the ever-present stream of container trucks.
Vehicles will travel about one-half mile north on Pico before rejoining the 710 Freeway.
The detour will remain in place for about one year until the big new Ocean Boulevard bridge across the Long Beach harbor is completed and open to traffic sometime mid-to-late next year.
Further north, Caltrans said the 710 Freeway will this week see a road resurfacing and bridge widening project between Slauson Avenue and the Pomona (60) Freeway.
This Monday through Friday nights, between 7 p.m. to 6 a.m. the nextb day, up to three lanes in each direction will be closed on the 710.
Both southbound and northbound lanes will be constricted between Atlantic to Washington boulevards. On- and off-ramps will also be closed at Atlantic, Bandini and Washington boulevards.
The work on the 710 is part of a $150.7 million pavement rehabilitation and bridge widening project that stretches 3.7 miles from Bell, past the Santa Ana (5) Freeway, to the 60 in East Los Angeles.
The project is scheduled to be completed in summer 2021.