The 1st Street Transit Gallery in Long Beach, Calif., just a few blocks from the Pacific Ocean, provides a critical connection between the newly constructed pedestrian promenade, the Pine Avenue entertainment area, the Long Beach Convention Center, the new contemporary bike station, Long Beach City Hall, the city-wide bus system and the popular seaside terminus of the Metro Blue Line that links Long Beach with big sister Los Angeles.

Renovation and transformation of the Long Beach 1st Street Transit Mall into the Long Beach Transit "Gallery" was a project driven by desires to create an artful hub that celebrates community and multimodal transit through downtown revitalization. The engaging Transit Gallery provides a critical connection between the newly constructed pedestrian promenade, the Pine Avenue entertainment area, the Long Beach Convention Center, the new contemporary bike station, Long Beach City Hall, the city-wide bus system and the popular seaside terminus of the Metro Blue Line that links Long Beach with Los Angeles.

Long Beach Transit, in collaboration with the Long Beach Public Works Department, the Long Beach Redevelopment Agency (an agency succeeded now by the City of Long Beach) and the Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA), transformed the three block long Transit Mall on First Street into an enhanced Transit Gallery that extends from Long Beach Boulevard to Pacific Avenue.

Unique Aspects of the Transit Mall
A huge challenge of this project was completing the Transit Mall from concept through design, approvals and construction in one year, as required by the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act federal funding. The cooperation and collaboration required between the many agencies, departments, designers and contractors to meet the daunting time frame was remarkable.

As in any renovation project, coordinating the new facilities around existing conditions, particularly through the tangle of infrastructure, was complicated. Some underground basements of older downtown buildings extended into the right-of-way. These shallow basement extensions became a formidable issue, affected the sidewalk pavement cross slopes, elevations, drainage, placement of bus shelters, lighting and plant material selections.

Mosaics
Shoreline-themed mosaic art by Robin Brailsford showcases coastal plants and animals. The sidewalk mosaic designs are keyed to the lettered bus shelters, e.g., the barnacle at Shelter B, and the crab at Shelter C. Brailsford, along with Lee and Ron Shaw, is a co-inventor of "LithoMosaic." Her artistic tiles are white-glued to paper, then set on hardibacker board with thinset. The art is then set by the mason into a monolithic concrete pour ?? la Lithocrete technique.

Project Team
Prime Consultant/Landscape Architects
MIG, Inc.
Architects
VBN Architects
Civil & Electrical Engineers
KOA Corp.
Contractor
Fast Track
Engineers
?? Electrical (Shelter): TMAD, Taylor & Gains

The towers of the bus shelters have state-of-the-art digital message boards, backlit transit maps and illuminated display cases for exhibiting local art. LED lighting bars recessed into the support structures provide high illumination for nighttime safety. Fiber optic cables at each structure link the computer-controlled accent lighting, and allow for future communication upgrades.

The bus shelters, whose custom designed wave-like tensile fabric canopies are suspended from transparent mesh clad towers, are dramatically up-lit at night with customized color LEDs that also highlight the colorful mosaics beneath each shelter.

There were sidewalk side slopes in excess of 2 percent, the maximum for ADA compliance, and existing curb heights that were already at a maximum of 8 inches. To solve this gradient dilemma a seat wall was designed to allow the sidewalk adjacent to the building to be raised to meet the ADA compliant cross slope, while making up the grade differential in a strategically placed retaining wall for convenient seating. Another design challenge was the overhead electrical wires with support poles that serve the mid-street Metrorail. These overhead wires made locating and installing shelters, lights and tall palm trees a delicate operation.

Developing a shoreline gallery theme to tie the architecture, paving, art and planting to the coastal city???s character and history was an ambitious approach for a public transit installation. The most obvious theme innovation is the bus shelters, whose custom designed large wave-like tensile fabric canopies are suspended from transparent mesh-clad towers. The suspended canopies are dramatically uplit with customized color LEDs that complement the colorful supersized mosaics beneath each shelter. The towers have state-of-the-art digital message boards, backlit transit maps and illuminated display cases for exhibiting local art. LED bars recessed into the support structure emit high illumination down lighting for night time safety. Fiber optic cables at each structure link the computer controlled accent lighting, and allow for future communication upgrades.

All exposed metals in the shelters are stainless steel. The site benches and receptacles are tubular steel construction and powder coated white to match the bus shelters.

With the proximity of the ocean, durable materials were a necessity. And as transit goers would frequently touch many of the constructed improvements, it was essential the shelter and site furnishing connections, finishes, and materials be safe to the touch and rugged. All exposed metals in the shelters are stainless steel. The site benches and receptacles are tubular steel construction and powder coated white to match the bus shelters.

The twin acorn streetlights on ornamental steel poles were maintained, a tribute to the downtown???s historic precedent. However, new intermediate pedestrian lights meld with the contemporary site furnishing and fixtures installed downtown and in the nearby East Village Arts District.

To promote authentic interpretive art, mosaic artist Robin Brailsford worked with the nearby Aquarium of the Pacific to select appropriate local shore creatures and flora to decorate the sidewalks. She used the patented "Lithocrete" process to create colorful mosaics in her offsite studio on net backing, and then had them applied to the direct Lithocrete pour, not an easy feat, given that some mosaics images were 12 feet in diameter, and another 35 feet long!

The bigger-than-life ocean creatures and plants captured in tile/glass mosaics, were carefully chosen to key to each shelter letter designation: anemones at Shelter "A", barnacles and bivalves at Shelter "B", crabs at "C" and an elephant at Shelter "E", a historic reminder that elephants once walked the beach here for the ceremonial arrival of the circus in Long Beach.

The site furnishings were scattered beyond the covered shelters to offer informal seating under the date palms and canopy trees. With over 38 bus routes and the Metroline culminating at the Transit Gallery, pedestrian traffic can be intense. Planting areas were therefore limited to tree wells and planters that safely direct pedestrians to designated crosswalks at intersections and the mid-block promenade crossing.

Plantings are limited to tree wells and planters that safely direct pedestrians to designated crosswalks at intersections and the mid-block promenade crossing. An all??e of tall date palms (Phoenix dactylifera) give a civic scale and sweeping shade to the overly wide and otherwise stark transit-only street. An understory of pink flowering deciduous trees (Tabebuia impetiginosa) add welcomed greenery. The trees, known for tolerating coastal conditions, will grow to 25 feet. The species was introduced into cultivation in Southern California in 1964 by the Los Angeles State and County Arboretum in Arcadia.

The twin acorn streetlights atop ornamental steel poles were maintained for the transit corridor, keeping with the downtown???s historic lighting precedent, although new pedestrian-scale lighting here (see opening spread) and in the nearby East Village Arts District melds with the contemporary site furnishings.

The all??e of tall date palms (Phoenix dactylifera) give a civic scale and sweep shadows across the overly wide and otherwise stark transit-only street. An understory of flowering canopy trees (Tabebuia impetiginosa) produce shade for pedestrians and transit patrons. Sidewalk planters sport drought-tolerant and emphatic plants???agaves, aloe, Bird of Paradise, myoporum, and senecio???impart a coral reef-like feel, yet are tough enough to withstand and curb pedestrian traffic.

During construction, a significant challenge was maintaining the transit hub for the city bus routes and the MTA Blue Line that runs through the Transit Gallery and connects Long Beach to Los Angeles.

There was considerable public outreach with downtown residents and adjacent business owners during the design work. Exceptional collaboration with the adjacent property owners resulted in key aesthetic landscape improvements off-site at adjoining parking garages and hotel service entrances that could have been overlooked eyesores.

The outcome of the recreated Transit Gallery is a civic space that gives transit users and downtown visitors a comfortable, safe environment, connecting the natural seaside environment through transportation and art. As lead consultant, MIG landscape architects played a key role in conceptualizing and orchestrating the client???s goal of a "bold transit hub with a sense of place, specific to Long Beach."