Friday, February 22, 2013

Port of Long Beach to extend green wall

The Port of Long Beach Harbor Commission voted on Tuesday to expand the port's green wall project, which protects adjacent neighborhoods from the emissions of thousand of trucks and other vehicles transport cargo via the Terminal Island Freeway.

"Every other freeway - the 710, the 405, the 22 - has had a barrier protecting surrounding neighborhoods for decades," said Long Beach City Councilman James Johnson, whose district is affected by the traffic, in a letter. "The time has come for West Long Beach to have a barrier protecting quality of life just as all of these other neighborhoods have long enjoyed."

Johnson has been working on a project to build a mulch barrier along the freeway from Willow Street to Pacific Coast Highway, where Long Beach neighborhoods and schools border the 103. Two fences stuffed with tree trimmings would help dampen the noise and shield neighborhoods visually from the freeway. Last year, he built a 30-foot section of the wall.

Tuesday's commission-approved funding would allow the pilot wall to be extended another 600 feet, buffering Hudson Park from the freeway.

After the extension is built, in about two months, the port will assess the wall's safety and effectiveness, according to the staff report.

For more of the Press-Telegram story: presstelegram.com

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