Bridges over Los Angeles

Travelin’ Local, as the mainstay and important reporting and information gateway for all things Southern California, will be featuring during irregular but consistent stories and information about bridges in the city–and how their various particulars, factors, issues, and stories all underscore how our historic bridges link Los Angeles’ many cities and highways, and its eco-system’s connection with Los Angeles County’s rivers, harbors and ravines.

A bridge in itself might not seem that interesting, other than a big steel structure that instills fear in some drivers as they look over the edge at the long way down.

But once you get past your fear of heights, there’s a lot more to our local bridges than just some monstrous skeleton that, for the most part, people try to avoid scaling. For instance, Bridges are often a focal point in movies to showcase a particular metropolis–from Chicago, New York, Seattle, and to New York. Last and certainly not least, is the Golden Gate Bridge of San Francisco.

If you’re wondering if you’re in a major city, bridges are pretty much the quintessential determining factor. And although Los Angeles bridges might not get as much love or attention, there’s definitely a past and pride that exists among these traversing concrete and metal slabs.

Many of these bridges are pretty, and make for great sunset shots. But the scariest part of living in the most frequent fault line state in the country, however, is perhaps driving on a bridge in the middle of an earthquake.

Memories of Los Angeles’ Loma Prieta and the Northridge Earthquakes The Northride Earthquake rocked the Southland, as did the 1989 Loma Prieta Earthquake, the largest fatal quake to hit the San Andreas, since the San Francisco earthquake of 1906. The San Francisco quake essentially toppled the city. Many bridges were built decades ago, and have aged over the years. Therefore, its necessary to upgrade their infrastructure for safety, earthquake, and to implement measures needed for the public’s health and welfare. In some cases, the state is rebuilding entire bridges from the ground-up–with state-of-the-art features and requirements.

That’s why we start our bridge series at the foot of Los Angeles County, with the Gerald Desmond Bridge, which can be seen with its long arches that connect Long Beach to Terminal Island.

Along the series, we’ll make our way up the coast from there.

The Gerald Desmond Bridge: A vision for a new designThe Gerald Desmond Bridge, which connects Downtown Long Beach to the San Pedro border, and the 1-710 Freeway, is possibly the most talked about bridge in the Los Angeles system as of late. Mainly because a project of grand proportions has recently been announced: to replace the aging structure with an entirely new modern bridge.

Here is a video of the Vision for the new Bridge:The decision of whether to keep maintaining the Gerald Desmond Bridge, or to build a new one, has been debated for endless years, and city, government, municipal, and state officials have finally come to the conclusion to rebuild it. Since the Gerald Desmond Bridge was built in 1968 using steel truss arches, parts of the bridge have begun to deteriorate due to the heavy traffic of commuters and port trucks.

In 2001, Caltrans deemed the bridge in need of immediate repairs. The bridge is not only important for Los Angeles, but the nation as a whole, because its connecting span is the mainstay for trucks that import and then carry goods from one of the busiest ports in the country. It’s estimated that the goods which flow from the Gerald Desmond Bridge–from the Ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles–are close to 15 percent of the nation’s imports alone, .

The constant movement of trucks and big rigs is the causation of the damage to the bridge, due to the frequency, duration, and intensity of our area’s needs and the port’s of commerce from which those needs are met. Ergo, the call for an entirely new overhead passage is needed.

Plans for the expanded Bridge replacementCurrently, the bridge is 156 feet from the bottom of the bridge to the surface of the harbor. This brings into question of whether this is safe for ships that pass underneath on a daily basis. Maritime requirements call for a standard of 160 feet for cargo ships. The new bridge however, plans on going even higher—to a height of 200 feet from the water. (How would you like to dive off of that?).

Safety issues and BridgesInstead of the tall arches, the new bridge will be fit with a cable system with a reportedly safer design to maintain more traffic. Here are some renderings of the new bridge:

The new bridge will include 6 lanes, enabling an easier passage for vehicles on the road. Additionally, the bridge will also be less steep—otherwise known as slope–than the current bridge, resulting in a smoother ride, and less acceleration and strain on the heavy diesel-fueled trucks. In addition, the new plans will eliminate the need for the current mesh net that catches concrete falling parts onto properties beneath.

The local community is encouraged to comment and give input on the Port of Long Beach’s plans for the bridge replacement during meetings and in public comment reports.

Rebuilding California’s Infrastructure – keeping and creating Jobs To rebuild the Gerald Desmond Bridge comes at a price tag of $1.1 billion, funded from state and federal government resources. Government officials have said the modern design construction will bring close to 4,000 new jobs to California, and the assembly will help keep the busy ports running at higher capacity rates–the correlation being that with additional imports and exports, our collective ability to overcome today’s current economic malaise, will be hastened by improving what’s already one of the largest ports in the nation for tomorrow’s prosperity.

The new bridge will bring close to $2.8 billion or more in new economic activity back to the state and Los Angeles, which will not only pay back the cost of the bridge itself, but is an investment in both Los Angeles’ future and hope. Construction will begin this year, and is expected to last for five years.

Other interesting points about the Gerald Desmond Bridge

• The bridge is named after Gerald Desmond, a well-known Long Beach civic leader, who served as a Long Beach City Councilmember, and as Long Beach City Attorney.
• The bridge will be a part of route for the annual Tour de Cure Ship to Shore bicycle race, on May 2, 2010, in association with the American Diabetes Association.
• The bridge has been designated by the U.S. Congress, as a part of the National Highway Systems and the Federal Strategic Highways Network.
• The bridge currently handles close to 68,000 vehicle trips per day.

As with our ongoing Sunday at the Theater series, Travelin’ Local’s mission is to provide our readers with the unique and interesting aspects, which make our town and city the envy of the world.

Our “Bridges over Los Angeles” series will not only pique your interest, but keep you forever coming back for our next new adventure and story.