The Port of Long Beach doesn’t have a smartphone app – but its bridge does.
Built by Mar Vista Web designer Erik Penn, owner of Penn Digital Inc., the LB Bridge app aims to help drivers avoid traffic jams and follow detours as the port builds a replacement for the Gerald Desmond Bridge, which connects downtown Long Beach and Terminal Island.
Through the app, you can look at maps of construction-related detours, get notifications of traffic problems and watch live video feeds of the construction zone. Drivers can also get audio updates – in English and Spanish – on planned closures.
“Someone could be planning to commute into the area that morning, and they’ll get a notification so they know there will be a delay,” Penn said. “It gives you, in a nutshell, what’s happening that day.”
Port spokesman Art Wong said the app is another way to deliver information, but it’s also a safety tool.
“We’re hoping if people are tempted to lookie-loo at the construction while they’re crossing the bridge, if they have access to the app, they can look at it from the safety of their home or office,” he said.
Westbound Communications in Orange, a public relations firm hired by the port for the bridge project, pitched a traffic app as part of its communications plan and hired Penn to build it.
The port paid Penn and Westbound about $40,000 for the app. It’s available for Apple, Android and Windows phones and has been downloaded by about 2,100 people so far.
There are plenty of city and government agencies with apps that let users report potholes or graffiti, and this wasn’t Penn’s first time developing an app for a public agency. He designed an emergency-preparedness app for Orange County a few years ago.
But the bridge app is different, possibly the first dedicated to a specific infrastructure project. Penn thinks it will be the first of many.
“The expectation of an app being available for just about anything is part and parcel to where we are,” he said. “It’s a convenience that the community at large is ready to handle.”
– James Rufus Koren
