New traffic light near PCH and 2nd Street will turn on this week
The signals have been covered since they were put up, but city officials said they'd be activated Thursday.
Drivers who travel on Pacific Coast Highway through Long Beach, get ready for another traffic light.
The signals on PCH at Seaport Way – which gives access to the 2nd & PCH and the Marketplace shopping centers – have been covered up since they were installed, but they’re expected to get switched on this week, according to Long Beach public works officials.
The new signals were required to help manage traffic that the restaurants and shops at 2nd & PCH were expected to generate; the center’s more than 60 businesses include Whole Foods; Anthropologie and lululemon; a ramen restaurant and a tiki bar; and gyms for boxing and pilates.
Back in 2017, when the center’s developer did a traffic study for its environmental report on the project, peak morning traffic through the intersection of PCH and 2nd Street was nearly 6,600 vehicles, and peak evening traffic was close to 6,900 cars. The shopping center was projected to add more than 13,000 daily trips to the area on weekdays and more than 17,000 on Saturdays.
Long Beach Public Works officials could not immediately provide actual traffic data since 2nd & PCH opened about five years ago, but the city works with Caltrans (which controls PCH) to coordinate the timing of signals, according to an email from city spokesperson Jocelin Padilla-Razo.
“Drivers can expect improved traffic flow and more consistent signal timing helping to create a safer, more efficient environment,” the email stated.
That’s not what residents were expecting when the shopping center was still a proposal awaiting city approval. As one person commented on the environmental report at the time, “We already have a traffic problem and we don’t need to add to it.”
How smoothly traffic will move with the new signal in the mix and how drivers’ behavior may change are unknown, but it’s certain even more cars will pass through that intersection in coming years: previously approved developments on both sides of PCH will add nearly 1,000 new apartments.
