Cal State Long Beach students from Orange County can now take the Seventh Street bridge to get to school, a route that has been closed for a year.
On Saturday morning, the northbound I-405/westbound SR-22 Seventh Street bridge re-opened.
“I would say approximately 25-30 percent of the campus population, including faculty and staff, have been affected in some way by the Seventh Street bridge closure and the construction on the entire project in general,” said Mark Rudometkin, general manager of CSULB Parking and Transportation Services.
The reconstruction of the Seventh Street connector is part of a larger $277 million West County Connectors project, partially funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, a 2009 federal stimulus bill.
The bridge closed on April 18 of last year for a reconstruction to accommodate new carpool lanes on the I-405 beneath the bridge and make direct connectors from the carpool lane to SR-22 and the northbound 605 freeway, according to the Orange County Transportation Authority.
During the closure, students had alternative routes they could take to get to school.
The closure kept traffic off of Seventh Street and forced many students to come in from the north end, Palo Verde and Atherton, or Bellflower and Beach Drive.
“Flow of traffic was very good, we saw less traffic at the south end of campus, where there is no general parking lots during the day,” Rudometkin said. “The closure cleared up traffic on both East and West Campus drives.”
Rudometkin said there were many positives with the closing of the bridge. He said the city synchronized the lights on Palo Verde and Studebaker to ensure the flow of traffic due to high demand.
The closure also kept cars off of East and West Campus Drives, which lightened traffic on campus dramatically.
“We are hoping that folks have realized the benefit of staying off of Seventh Street to get to campus,” Rudometkin said. “With the opening, I hope those who used Palo Verde and Studebaker continue to do so with the understanding it is a better, more convenient drive to campus.”