Coke Drums Roll Through Redondo

With several dozen spectators watching, Chevron unloaded the first two of six giant coke drums from a barge in King Harbor onto Mole B on Monday, the first step in a three-week process.

On Monday evening, Chevron moved the coke drums from their spot on Mole B to the staging area across the street from Peter's Garden Center in Redondo Beach. The drums were escorted by officers from the Redondo Beach Police Department.

The 500,000-pound drums will travel up Pacific Coast Highway and Sepulveda Boulevard through Hermosa Beach and Manhattan Beach and into El Segundo on Wednesday night using the same methods used to transport the boulder used in "Levitated Mass" at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and the Space Shuttle Endeavour. This process will repeat the week of Feb. 25 and March 4.

"All of this is a very orchestrated ballet that we have been working very diligently on," said Chevron spokesman Jeff Wilson. "A lot of lessons were learned from the space shuttle and rock movement and it is to our great benefit that those two activities just took place."

In exchange for the city's cooperation, Chevron is paying $2.4 million to Redondo Beach. The money will be spent on implementing the Mole B Master Plan, which involves the construction of a sailing classroom, mast-up boat storage and a boat launch.

"Chevron's been a great partner," said Redondo Beach Mayor Mike Gin.

Hermosa Beach, Manhattan Beach and El Segundo are also being compensated

Though the cost to go through King Harbor versus the Port of Los Angeles was about the same, offloading the drums in Redondo Beach offered multiple advantages, Wilson said.

For one, the journey to the refinery from King Harbor is only 4 1/2 miles and through four cities, whereas the drums would have to travel more than 20 miles and through many more cities if they were offloaded in the Port of Los Angeles, he said. Such a journey would take several nights per drum, and storing the drums during daytime hours would be difficult logistically.

The journey from the staging area at Herondo Street and Pacific Coast Highway to the Chevron refinery in El Segundo will take one night.

For more information on the project, visit Chevron's website at www.cokedrumproject.com and check back with Patch during the transport for updated information, photos and videos.

Coke Drum Transport Timeline (Late Wednesday/Early Thursday):

• 10:00 p.m. | Road closure on Herondo at the beginning of route to rotate street lights.
• 11:15 p.m. | First drum begins rolling onto Pacific Coast Highway at Herondo Street at the Redondo Beach/Hermosa Beach border.
• 11:30 p.m. | Second drum begins rolling onto Pacific Coast Highway at the same location as the first drum.
• 12:00 a.m. | Drums reach intersection of Pacific Coast Highway and Aviation Boulevard.
• 1:00 a.m. | Drums reach intersection of Pacific Coast Highway and Manhattan Beach Boulevard.
• 2:00 a.m. | Drums turn west from Pacific Coast Highway onto Rosecrans Avenue.
• 2:45 a.m. | First drum enters the Chevron refinery at intersection of Pacific Avenue and Rosecrans Avenue.
• 3:15 a.m. | Second drum enters Chevron refinery at same location as first drum.
• 5:00 a.m. | Any closed roads reopen to traffic by 5 a.m at the latest.

Previously:

• Chevron Coke Drum Transport to Affect Beach Cities