Beginning at 9pm on Friday, July 27, a portion of Pico Avenue directly under the old ramp and the southbound Pico off-ramp next to it will be closed until 5am the following Monday.
Beginning at 9pm on Friday, July 27 and lasting through the weekend, a portion of Pico Avenue directly under the old ramp and the southbound Pico off-ramp next to it will be closed. It will reopen at 5am on Monday.
During the closure, motorists traveling west on Ocean Boulevard toward Terminal Island and San Pedro will not be impacted. Both northbound and southbound traffic on Harbor Scenic Drive will also remain open.
However, those traveling east over the bridge will exit on the Pico northbound off-ramp, then turn left heading north. At 9th Street, they can: turn left onto the 710 north on-ramp; turn right, continue onto 10th Street and take the downtown on-ramp to head into the city; or turn right, remain on 9th Street up to Anaheim Street, turn right, then take the southbound on-ramp onto the 710 to travel to the Queen Mary area.
Trucks with oversized loads will not be allowed to travel on Pico Avenue through the affected area while the closure is in effect.
The replacement project, which is a joint effort of Caltrans and the port, with additional funding from the U.S. Department of Transportation and the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority, will result in a new cable-stayed bridge with 205 feet of clearance over the channel.
“Thank you again for everyone’s patience and understanding during this closure and during the entirety of this significant infrastructure improvement project,” states the latest weekly emailed update from the project’s officials. “We are pleased to announce we are heading into the final stretch towards completion of the new bridge, which will offer vastly improved traffic flow and additional safety lanes.”
The undertaking to replace the original 1.5-mile-span Desmond Bridge, which was completed in the late 1960s, is currently the second-largest construction project in California. The new bridge will provide three lanes in each direction to improve traffic flow, emergency lanes on both sides to reduce traffic delays and safety hazards, and 205 feet of vertical clearance to accommodate the world’s largest, “greener” vessels, according to officials.
The old bridge, which was named after a former Long Beach city attorney and councilmember, has served the port and city since its construction, but officials say increased traffic volume and time have taken their toll.
With nearly 15 percent of the country’s waterborne cargo transported across the bridge, it is an important access route for the port, and the 200-plus-foot clearance will welcome some of the largest ships to ever pass through the channel, officials say.
The new bridge is expected to be fully open in about a year.
Updates on the construction of the bridge are available at newgdbridge.com. The project can also be followed on Instagram or Twitter @newgdbridge or on Facebook at newgdbridge.
