Construction Starts Today on Long Beach's Side of New Bridge

By City News Service

Construction began today on a new bridge on the Long Beach end of Terminal Island, which will replace an old structure that is so decrepit that diaper nets have been wrapped under it to catch falling chunks of concrete.

 Just after midnight, contractors working for the Port of Long Beach began tearing down U-shaped offramps west of the existing Gerald Desmond Bridge, to make way for a parallel structure to be built north of the old crumbling structure. The bridge was to be closed for construction all weekend as the ramps were blocked off and other heavy work started. Port officials said Ocean Boulevard, the eastern accessway to Terminal Island, was to reopen at 5 a.m. Monday.

``I'm watching right now, and they are bringing down some major beams and columns,'' Port spokesman John Pope said at midmorning. ``It's pretty loud.'' ``The work is prgressing on schedule.'' An iconic pair of twin towers soaring 515 feet above the manmade shipping channel west of downtown Long Beach will hoist cables that will bear the load of supporting the new bridge deck, when the new $1 billion ``majestic'' bridge is finished in 2016, port officials said.

The new bridge will allow massive container ships to enter the innermost harbor channel through its 205-foot clearance. Modern ships and their cargoes cannot make it under the 150-foot clearance of the existing bridge, which was built in 1968. Six lanes, walkways and bikeways will be on the new bridge, replacing the traffic-choked four-lane bridge. The current bridge replaced a floating pontoon bridge that swung open to allow ships' passage.

Thousands of trucks cross the Desmond Bridge daily, en route between massive cargo terminals in the twin ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, and the Long Beach (710) Freeway. The bridge is also a commuter route between San Pedro and Long Beach, and no tolls are collected. Two other highway bridges link terminal island to the mainland: the soaring green Vincent Thomas Bridge at San Pedro, and the utilitarian bridge at the Terminal Island (47) Freeway.

 The Port of Long Beach, Caltrans and the U.S. Department of Transportation are building the bridge, and they plan to post photos and videos of the construction progress at www.newgdbridge.com .