WEDNESDAY, APRIL 28, 1999

Signs under construction

By Michelle Devera

On-Line Forty-Niner

Halt, this way to Cal State Long Beach.

That is the purpose of the university's latest $90,000 entrance signs currently under construction at the intersection of Merriam Way and Atherton Street near The Pyramid.

Resembling the Bellflower Boulevard entrance signs, the new display will feature two 5-foot-high by 22-foot-long curved, white brick walls. The lettering will be similar to the Seventh Street entrance located on Upper Campus.

"We just wanted to give campus identification on that side," said Jim McMahon, construction inspector.

"The campus has three formal points of entry," Physical Planning Director Sue Brown said. "Bellflower and Seventh Street already have formal entries and we needed one for that location."

Construction began Mar. 14 and will continue through mid-May.

"The Merriam Way entrance leads you to the center of campus on the North end," Brown said. "It's an easy access to not only The Pyramid, parking lots and structures, but also to the administration building, health center and then you end up on State University Drive. It's one of the main arteries to the campus."

The university has already implemented an attention-grabbing sign at the Seventh Street entrance. The electronic billboard was erected during the summer of 1997. Its total cost is estimated at a couple hundred thousand dollars, Brown said.

"Seventh Street has the heaviest traffic because it's essentially an off-ramp from the freeway," McMahon said. "We used an electronic sign to draw people into campus and for advertising. It's an easy means of putting out information quickly and without a lot of fuss."

The Bellflower Boulevard entrance signs are the first and oldest, he said. They were constructed when this point used to be the main entrance in the 1950s.