Early next month the iconic Vincent Thomas Bridge at the Port of Los Angeles will close for at least 16 months as construction crews replace the road deck.
When it opened in 1963 after nearly 20 years of planning and false starts, the 6,000-foot-long Vincent Thomas Bridge (named after the state Assemblyman who championed the bridge project) was the first welded suspension bridge in the nation. Its goal was to connect the cargo docks on Terminal Island with the homes and shops for the dockworkers in San Pedro; up until that point, the only way to travel between those points was by ferry.
Now, the 1,500-foot main span of the bridge over the main channel at the Port of Los Angeles is the fourth longest suspension bridge in the state. The road on top of the bridge deck has two lanes in each direction that carry roughly 53,000 vehicles per day on average, including nearly 4,700 heavy-duty trucks, according to figures from Caltrans.
While the bridge itself is structurally sound, the deck has been deteriorating due to decades of heavy cargo truck traffic.
Initial start time delayed
Caltrans has budgeted $750 million to replace the bridge deck and its seismic sensors, as well as installing new railings and a new median. California Engineering Contractors of Pleasonton and Stockholm-based Skanska are the primary contractors on the project. The target completion date is March 2028, just four months before sailing events for the Summer Olympic Games take place in the area.
Caltrans initially planned to shut down the bridge a couple years ago but pushed that date back to work more with local and port officials on rerouting traffic to and from the twin port complex.
Among other things, those officials sought upgrades for some of the detour roads so they could better accommodate the heavy truck traffic, both in tonnage and volume. Caltrans has also improved detour signage and worked with online mapping services such as Waze to flag detour routes while the bridge is closed.
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