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Atherton Street construction delays student commutes

The drive for Cal State Long Beach commuters may take longer than expected due to construction on Atherton Street.

Drivers might want to use an alternative route while construction workers improve a section of Atherton Street between Studebaker Road and Bellflower Boulevard. Construction has already begun and will take approximately 90 days to complete, according to Tweed.

“This improvement will beautify the neighborhood, and all those who use the street will enjoy it too,” Patrick O’Donnell, Long Beach fourth district councilman, said.

The project’s improvements include new center island medians, curbs, gutters, asphalt, and the removal of diseased, aged trees along Atherton Street, which will be replaced with more than 100 drought-resistant trees and other drought resistant plants, according to the City of Long Beach Transportation Planner Steve Tweed.

“The trees were the No. 1 reason why this project is taking place,” Tweed said. “The existing trees are dead because the trees chosen were not fit for this type of climate. The trees were recommended to be cut down by the city herbalist.”

Other improvements include a new irrigation system that will be installed next to the new trees and mulch, according to Tweed, who has been working on this project since April 2010.

The project was approved in 2007 and will be funded by a $703,000 grant from Metropolitan Transportation Authority, Tweed said. Another $202,412 from the city’s Proposition C funds will also contribute to the project, according to a City of Long Beach press release. Proposition C is a half-cent sales tax increase that was passed in 1990 to help fund transportation needs in Los Angeles County.

“Thousands of people use that street every day,” Long Beach Mayor Bob Foster said in a press release. “It will benefit them and the city’s infrastructure.”

Students have said the construction is not too much of a delay but more of an inconvenience.

“There’s backed up traffic, so it delays my drive a little bit but not that much,” senior biology major Melissa Prior said.

Some students were more irritated by the construction.

“It’s very inconvenient if you need to park at the local park because some of the turnouts are blocked because of the construction,” junior economics major Nathan Arevalo said.

The project is scheduled to be completed on July 25 but could be finished sooner, according to Tweed.
 

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