Long Beach commuters who depend on the 710 in Los Angeles or the Seal Beach Boulevard bridge at the I-405 might see a rough couple of years ahead, as two major construction projects begin simultaneously on August 19 this weekend.

For at least 18 months, the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) will close two on-ramps—one in Commerce at Atlantic Ave. and one in East Los Angeles at Cesar Chavez Blvd.—to the southbound 710 freeway while Orange County Transit Authority (OCTA) will reduce traffic to one lane on the Seal Beach Boulevard bridge where it meets the 405 for 11 months.

The 710 connection closures are due to a much needed freeway bridge replacement project as well widening the freeway itself from the L.A. River Bridge at Atlantic to the 10 freeway. The $120 million project will involve the installation of precast concrete panels and slabs while upgrading the median barrier; pullout enhancement will also progress to increase safety for maintenance crews.

The closures begin at 7PM this Sunday and the project is expected to be completed in late 2015.

The singe lane configuration on the Seal Beach Boulevard bridge will go into effect at 5AM this Sunday and continue for 11 months.

“The construction of the bridge will take approximately two years to complete. This is due to the way construction is staged, building the bridge one half at a time to allow it to remain open to commuters during construction (opposed to fully closing the bridge),” stated OCTA media relations correspondent Laura Scheper. “However, working with the contractor, we are able to minimize the amount of time of the lane reductions to the first 11 months.”

While OCTA does not expect a significant impact on commuters who use the 7th Street bridge, the Seal Beach Blvd. bridge connects many Long Beachers to Rossmoor and Los Alamitos and the 7th Street bridge is a suggested alternative route connecting Seal Beachers to the same neighborhoods and vice versa.