A $70.5 million overhaul of a key interchange that connects the Vincent Thomas Bridge (State Route 47), Front Street and Harbor Boulevard to the southbound 110 Freeway, in San Pedro, is set to begin construction in about a year — and came into some additional grant funding this week.
The project, which has been on the drawing board for years, is expected to bring some much needed traffic flow relief at San Pedro’s northern waterfront.
The busy — and often confusing — interchange now sends cars and port trucks alike off the freeway to the Vincent Thomas Bridge toward Long Beach, but also onto Harbor Boulevard, bordering some of the busiest terminals in the Port of L.A.
The Los Angeles harbor commission accepted $41.22 million in grants from the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority on Thursday, June 23.
The ambitious proposal aims to break up and better manage traffic flow in the area, which is known for heavy congestion that often creates a bottleneck at San Pedro’s waterfront.
Construction is set to start in the summer of 2023, with utility relocations starting as early as this fall, said Sarah Aziz, civil engineer and project manager for the overhaul. Closures are expected to occur at existing on and off ramps, but a staff member said construction is being phased to have “minimal impacts to the interchange and local roadway.”
The work is set to be completed by the end of 2026.
The project has been delayed in the past, most recently in 2021 when a soft, clay-like soil was discovered on the site, which could have caused up to a 26-inch soil settlement. That required additional drainage, landscaping and retention wall support work. It also added $1.9 million to the project’s overall cost.
“This project can’t start soon enough,” said harbor Commissioner Anthony Pirozzi. “I’m reminded of that every time I’m going to and from downtown San Pedro at peak times with the amount of congestion on Front Street getting into the terminals there.”
Safety and congestion issues have plagued the area for years. The southbound 110 Freeway peels off onto a connector road for the Vincent Thomas Bridge but also onto an adjacent offramp that takes traffic onto Harbor Boulevard.
Jockeying to merge through the short transition has resulted in traffic quickly weaving in and out as vehicles approach the intersection, according to a staff report, and can lead to backups on both ramps during peak times.
Engineers have also said the new project will help extend the life of the aging Vincent Thomas Bridge, which opened in 1963, as traffic is expected to continue increasing.
Replacing the Vincent Thomas Bridge would be expensive, not to mention complicated. So a recent study looking at how to improve the bridge’s efficiency focused instead on upgrading transition roads and on- and offramps serving the bridge, which is narrow and low-rising over the harbor, at least by today’s standards — when more and larger trucks and much taller ships are all commonplace.
Under the plan, the existing Harbor Boulevard offramp that takes cars and trucks off the southbound Harbor Freeway will be widened with a second dedicated right-hand lane, leaving one lane to take traffic straight across Harbor Boulevard and onto Swinford Street. Merging distances will be extended.
It also will create a new offramp that will track north, passing over what is a now-closed dog park at the base of Knoll Hill at 700 N. Front St. That ramp will line up with the terminal entrances serving to separate port truck traffic from automobile traffic, which also can be heavy as many residents and visitors use the Harbor Boulevard offramp to access the waterfront, where the USS Iowa and other attractions are located.
With the revamped interchange, those port trucks, Pirozzi said, “will be on an offramp instead of on Front Street.”
Other improvements include pavement, curb and street lighting, and landscaping improvements along Front Street and Harbor Boulevard, from Pacific Avenue to Swinford Avenue. Architectural wall treatments also are proposed for the wall along the Harbor exit ramp.
Pirozzi also suggested attention be given to traffic coming to and from the Little League fields at the top of Knoll Hill, in terms of determining the best one-way entrance and exit roads, and traffic lights.
“This is one of those projects that’s a game changer,” Pirozzi said.