Road closures, detours planned in Redondo Beach
The coke drums departing Spain for King Harbor, where they will be offloaded starting next week. Photo courtesy of Chevron
As Chevron transports six 500,000-pound steel coke drums from the Redondo Beach Marina to its El Segundo refinery over the next three weeks, South Bay residents will encounter road closures and detours.
The drums will be transported into King Harbor from the Port of Los Angeles via a barge Feb. 18. Next week they will be moved to a staging area near the corner of Herondo and PCH, where they will be shifted from remote-controlled transporters to “street-worthy” trailers, Chevron spokesman Jeff Wilson said at a City Council meeting last month.
Incrementally, all six drums – which measure 100 feet long and 28 feet wide – will make the four-and-a-half-mile journey to El Segundo.
Two drums will be moved from the staging area to the refinery via PCH, Sepulveda, Rosecrans and Pacific Avenue around 10 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 20. Two more drums will be moved during the two Wednesday evenings following (Feb. 27 and Mar. 6).
In order to accommodate the drums, meridians and trees will be temporarily removed along Herondo and Harbor Drive. Power poles along PCH will also be relocated. Wilson said Chevron has obtained an “extensive” environmental impact report for its project, and is working with Southern California Edison to ensure local residents do not experience power outages over the course of the next few weeks.
The City of Redondo Beach signed a license agreement with Chevron last August, which identifies Mole B in King Harbor as the most suitable location for the offload of the drums. In exchange, Chevron agreed to donate $2.4 million for a park on Mole B, located at the end of Marina Way.
Chevron is advertising in local media outlets, sending mailers to businesses and residents, knocking on doors, managing an informational website at cokedrumproject.com, and manning a community hotline at (310) 615-5298 to keep Redondo Beach residents in the loop.