UPDATED Dec. 29, 2014:
The Manhattan Beach City Council moved forward with two major projects on Sepulveda Boulevard in October, one contentious and one not so much.
The council voted 3-2 to use funds already appropriated to widen and seismically retrofit the Sepulveda Bridge between 33rd Street and Rosecrans Avenue. It also approved a project to improve the intersection at Sepulveda Boulevard and Marine Avenue.
CalTrans, which owns the right of way, has been contemplating adding another northbound lane on Sepulveda to eliminate the bottleneck at 33rd Street since the 1980s.
Because of updated seismic safety standards, CalTrans also requires that the bridge be seismically retrofitted.
The city council decided that the city would take the lead on the project in 2011, and last week’s vote was only to approve the use of funds toward the project.
But that didn’t stop impassioned testimonies from the two councilmembers who opposed the project and a few members of the public who bemoaned the disruption to traffic during construction.
“It’s not our bridge, not our road—shouldn’t be our project,” said Councilmember Tony D’Errico, who objected to the $4 million that the city will contribute to the project’s total $21 million cost.
However, Councilmember David Lesser and Mayor Wayne Powell cited past reports that said that the addition of another lane would reduce the number of accidents.
Although a construction contract still needs to be awarded, Public Works Director Tony Olmos said that construction would probably start in fall 2015.
Meanwhile, the project to improve the intersection at Sepulveda Boulevard and Marine Avenue, also owned by CalTrans, engendered no public comment. Two left turn lanes will be added on westbound Marine Avenue to southbound Sepulveda Boulevard. The project will cost around $538,000, and work is expected to begin in the first few months of 2015.
