1963 Vincent Thomas Bridge over Los Angeles River in Los Angeles, CA

(Archived Bridge Hunter; no Historic Bridges; Satellite)

Street View, Feb 2023

WaterAndPower, RegularDaddy
"The Vincent Thomas Bridge is a 1,500-foot-long [457m] suspension bridge, crossing the Los Angeles Harbor, linking San Pedro with Terminal Island. It is the only suspension bridge in the Greater Los Angeles area....The bridge opened in 1963 and is named for California Assemblyman Vincent Thomas of San Pedro, who championed its construction."

WaterAndPower, L.A. Harbor Department Photo
"The bridge is 6,060 feet [1,847m] long, 52 feet [16m] wide, 365 feet [110m] tall.  Its longest span is 1,500 feet [457m], and the clearance below is 185 feet [56m]."

Bridges Now and Then posted
On San Pedro, California's, Vincent Thomas Bridge, c. 1962. (Chronobook)
Dave Frieder: Main Cables and suspender ropes by John A. Roebling's Sons Inc.

Another reminder that the cables don't hang correctly until they have their design weight attached.

WaterAndPower, PortOfLosAngeles
"The Vincent Thomas Bridge is the first suspension span ever to be built on steel piles — 990 of them were sunk to hold it up, instead of the more traditional concrete supports. And it is the first to be built entirely without rivets; the steel is welded together." [No use of rivets explains why Historic Bridges doesn't include this bridge.]

Before the bridge was built, this was the terminal building for the ferry service. It is now the Los Angeles Maritime Museum. [WaterAndPower] 

The Battleship USS Iowa Museum is just a little upstream from here.

Street View, May 2019

SanPedro
In 2005, it got 160 blue LED lights. They are powered by solar panels. "The solar panels feed more electricity into the grid during the day than the LED lights use at night."

Caltrans is planning a $628.5m project to replace the deck. [DailyBreeze]

The bridge carries 53,000 vehicles per day, including nearly 4,700 heavy-duty trucks. [labusinessjournal] 

And most of those trucks are probably carrying containers. Container trains may reduce truck traffic on rural highways, but they increase it on urban streets. But, of course, it is the urban streets that have a big congestion issue to begin with.

10 photos