Long Beach Residents Unhappy About Canal Expansion Project

A canal expansion project in Long Beach has many residents upset. Many who live along the canal feel the expansion is unnecessary, but there may be a silver lining to this project.

It’s a project 15 years in the works. The goal is to expand the canal along its nearly four mile length to reduce flooding in local neighborhoods. Residents living along the canal could have a portion of their land used for this project. Many wish there was another way. Canal Number 1 is used to funnel rain water out of the city during heavy storms.

Some places along the canal do flood, but now there’s a plan to expand the channel that involves using private property. Leonard Carrubba, a Long Beach resident, says, “The canal runs through my backyard. I think the issue with this canal is further down, out of this range of this. It’s between like Bayou Portage. Once that gets cleaned up, the water will move faster through there.”

Long Beach Water Management is responsible for the project. They believe widening the channel is the right thing to do. Right now, the canal is about 50 feet across. The plan is to widen it to 100 feet across in some places. This will affect about 120 properties.

While the expansion project itself is unpopular with many residents, some have suggested building a paved bike path alongside the canal, and that’s something many residents want to see happen. Eloise Carrubba, another Long Beach resident, says, “The possibility excites me enormously. Long Beach, as long as I have lived here, does not have safe places to ride for myself or my kids, for a family to ride bikes.”

At a meeting Wednesday night, organized by Long Beach community activist, Glenn Mueller, residents learned about the benefits of a paved bike path that would stretch along the length of the whole city. Mueller says, “Improved property values, better for businesses, easier on people’s budgets because they don’t have to drive everywhere.”

The bike path would be funded by private donations and would be an entirely separate project from the canal expansion. Work on the canal is to expected to begin in a year or two. Funding is still trying to be acquired for the $4 million project.