Gerald Desmond Bridge

Gerald Desmond Bridge
The 1968 Gerald Desmond Bridge spans the Back Channel, connecting Long Beach with Terminal Island.
Coordinates	33°45′52″N 118°13′16″W / 33.76444°N 118.22111°W / 33.76444; -118.22111Coordinates: 33°45′52″N 118°13′16″W / 33.76444°N 118.22111°W / 33.76444; -118.22111
Carries	4 lanes of Ocean Blvd between SR 47 and I-710
Crosses	Back Channel
Locale	Terminal Island and Long Beach, California
Named for	Gerald Desmond
Owner	Port of Long Beach
NBI	53C0065
Preceded by	1944 pontoon bridge
Followed by	2018 cable-stayed span
Characteristics
Design	through arch bridge
Material	Steel
Total length	5,134 ft (1,565 m)
Longest span	410 ft (125 m)
Piers in water	2
Clearance below	155 ft (47 m)
History
Construction begin	October 19, 1965
Construction end	1968
Construction cost	US$615,000,000 (equivalent to $4,192,000,000 in 2015)
Rebuilt	1995–2000
Closed	2018 (scheduled)
Replaces	1944 pontoon bridge
Replaced by	2018 cable-stayed span
Statistics
Daily traffic	62,057 (2012)
Gerald Desmond Bridge Location in Long Beach, California

Gerald Desmond Bridge (new bridge)
Rendering of the replacement bridge
Carries	6 lanes of I-710
Crosses	Back Channel
Locale	Terminal Island and Long Beach, California
Characteristics
Design	Cable-stayed bridge
Total length	8,800 ft (2,682 m)
Height	515 ft (157 m)
Longest span	1,000 ft (305 m)
Clearance below	205 ft (62 m)
History
Construction begin	2013
Construction cost	est. US$1,500,000,000
Opened	2018 (scheduled)

The Gerald Desmond Bridge is a through arch bridge that carries four lanes of Ocean Boulevard from Interstate 710 in Long Beach, California, west across the Back Channel to Terminal Island. The bridge is named after Gerald Desmond, a prominent civic leader and a former city attorney for the City of Long Beach.

History

Prior to 1944, the only road access to Terminal Island was via Badger Avenue (later Henry Ford Avenue, after an assembly plant that was built on the island) over the Henry Ford Bridge.

1944 pontoon bridge

The first bridge linking the eastern end of Terminal Island and Long Beach was an unnamed "temporary" pontoon bridge constructed during World War II to accommodate traffic resulting from the expansion of the Long Beach Naval Shipyard. The pontoon bridge was intended to last six months, but was not replaced until 1968, 24 years after it had opened. Depending on the level of the tide, road traffic had to descend 17 to 25 feet (5.2 to 7.6 m) below the level on the shore. When marine traffic required the bridge to open, traffic delays of up to 15 minutes could occur.^[1] An estimate of seven people died after driving off the pontoon bridge.^[1][2]

1968 through-arch

The 1968 through-arch bridge was designed by Moffatt & Nichol^[3] Engineers and was constructed by Bethlehem Steel as a replacement for the World War II-era pontoon bridge. Gerald Desmond served as City Attorney for Long Beach and played a significant role in obtaining tideland oil funds which helped finance the bridge that would later bear his name. Desmond died in office at age 48 of kidney cancer.^[4] One year after Desmond's death in January 1964, ground-breaking for the construction of the new bridge occurred on October 19, 1965, and it was completed in 1968. Desmond's son, also named Gerald, sank the final "golden" bolt.^[4] It has a 410-foot-long (120 m) suspended main span and a 155-foot (47 m) vertical clearance over the Cerritos Channel and connects Terminal Island on its east side to downtown Long Beach. The bridge separates the inner harbor from the middle harbor.

At the time of its completion in 1968, traffic was projected to be modest and mainly limited to workers commuting to jobs at the Long Beach Naval Shipyard. When the Long Beach NSY was closed in 1997, that land was converted and served as home to one of the busiest container terminals in the United States, resulting in greater cargo truck and marine traffic. By some estimates, truck traffic across the bridge tripled in the years following the closure of the Long Beach NSY.^[5] By 2010, the 155-foot (47 m) vertical clearance of the 1968 bridge was one of the lowest for a commercial seaport, especially at the Port of Long Beach, which remains one of the busiest container ports in the United States.^[6] In addition, the bridge was not designed for the traffic it carried (62,000 vehicles in 2012), and the added stress was causing pieces of concrete to fall from the bridge's underside, forcing the Port of Long Beach to install nylon mesh "diapers" in 2004 to catch these chunks.^[5] Also, since the 1968 bridge roadway lacks emergency/breakdown lanes, multiple lanes would be shut down in the event of an accident, snarling traffic.^[7] Other deficiencies cited include the steep approach grades (5.5 percent on the west side and 6 percent on the east side)^[8]

Competition in the marine shipping industry meant boosting shipping efficiency by building ever-larger container ships. The Gerald Desmond Bridge became a barrier for ships entering the Inner Harbor at Long Beach, with its restrictive 155-foot (47 m) vertical clearance resulting in a drop in its share of United States container imports by 2013. According to U.S. census data, the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles handled 32% of U.S. container imports in 2013, down from 39% in 2002.^[9] In March 2012, the insufficient vertical clearance of the bridge prevented passage of the 12,562 TEU MSC Fabiola, the largest container ship ever to enter the Port of Long Beach. The height restriction prevented the ship from docking at the Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) dock; it docked at the Hanjin terminal instead.^[10]

2018 cable-stayed replacement

The 1968 steel arch bridge developed numerous issues (detailed above), and the Port of Long Beach suggested it would be more economical to replace the bridge. After several years of studies, a cable-stayed bridge with 205 feet (62 m) of vertical clearance to be built north of the existing bridge was identified as the preferred alternative in the final environmental impact report (2010 FEIR).^[8] The new bridge will allow access to the port for the tallest container ships, and will be the first long-span cable-stayed bridge in California.^[11] For the bridge to be so tall, long approaches will be required to allow trucks to cross.^[12] A joint venture of Parsons Transportation Group and HNTB performed preliminary engineering for the main span and the approaches. Earlier reports had studied and discarded various alternatives, including an alternative alignment with a new bridge south of the existing bridge, rehabilitation of the existing bridge, and a tunnel instead of an elevated bridge.^[8]

Ocean Boulevard, currently carried by the 1968 bridge, is operated by the City of Long Beach. When the replacement bridge is completed, the roadway it carries will be redesignated the western extension of I-710, extending to its intersection with State Route 47, and it will become the responsibility of Caltrans, District 7.^[13] The current roadway is four lanes (two in each direction) with a fifth climbing lane on each end. The replacement bridge will carry a six-lane roadway with emergency lanes on each side, and the grade will decrease by building a longer approach, despite the higher vertical clearance over the Back Channel; the planned improvements will bring the bridge up to current freeway standards.^[13] The replacement bridge will also carry a pedestrian/bike path and observation decks over the water along the south side of the bridge. The path is named for Mark Bixby, a longtime proponent of adding bike lanes to the replacement for the Gerald Desmond Bridge^[14][15] and a descendant of one of the original founders of Long Beach. Mark Bixby died in a March 2011 plane crash at the Long Beach Airport.^[16]

Helicopters hover 515 feet (157 m) above the ground during the January 8, 2013 groundbreaking ceremony, illustrating the height of the two cable towers in the planned replacement bridge.

The replacement bridge was unanimously approved by the City of Long Beach in late September 2010.^[17] A project launch meeting was held at the Port of Long Beach on November 22, 2010, attended by Long Beach Mayor Bob Foster, U.S. Representatives Dana Rohrabacher and Laura Richardson, Senator Alan Lowenthal and Caltrans Director Cindy McKim.^[13] In 2012, the Long Beach Board of Harbor Commissioners approved Port of Long Beach staff’s recommendation that the “best value” design-build proposal to replace the Gerald Desmond Bridge was submitted by the SFI joint venture team, comprising Shimmick Construction Company Inc., FCC Construction S.A. and Impregilo S.p.A., and the contract was awarded to the SFI JV in July 2012.^[18] Major participants in the joint venture also include Arup North America Ltd. and Biggs Cardosa Associates Inc.^[19] During the groundbreaking ceremony on January 8, 2013, two helicopters hovered 515 feet (157 m) above ground level, illustrating the height of the two cable towers for the planned replacement bridge.^[20]

The project was originally estimated to cost $800 million in 2008.^[21] By 2010, costs had increased to $1.1 billion,^[17] and funding identified in 2010 for the replacement bridge included $500 million contributed by Caltrans, $300 million contributed by the USDOT, $114 million from the Port of Long Beach, and $28 million from Metro.^[13] As of 2016, the current project estimate is $1.5 billion,^[11] and it is scheduled for completion by 2018. Part of the cost increase is attributed to a 2013 redesign of the support towers. Caltrans and the Port of Long Beach required the SFI joint venture to redesign the towers to ensure seismic safety and to preserve long term structural integrity. Other cost increases are attributed to extra oversight required by innovative products and materials proposed by the designers of the replacement bridge.^[11]

The project is to be completed as a design-build in contrast to the traditional design-bid-build used typically in infrastructure improvement. As of 2015, construction on the replacement bridge is still underway.^[19] Highway spans are now underway.

From west to east, the new bridge will span a total of 8,800 feet (2,700 m), consisting of:^[22]

• The 2,800 ft (850 m) West Approach (3,117 ft (950 m) in the 2010 FEIR)
• The 2,000 ft (610 m) cable-stayed span, with a 1,000 ft (300 m) Main Span flanked by two 500 ft (150 m) Back Spans
• The 3,600 ft (1,100 m) East Approach (3,035 ft (925 m) in the 2010 FEIR)

By extending the approach structures, approach grades are reduced to no more than 5 percent.^[8]

As the tallest structure in the area, the 2018 cable-stayed bridge will be a prominent addition to the Long Beach skyline. Brian Ulaszewski has criticized the proposed bridge as being "generic" and lacking "the dynamism and elegance appropriate for what will be the tallest bridge in Southern California."^[23] Ulaszewski cited two recently-completed pedestrian bridges, the da Vinci Bridge in Norway and the Sundial Bridge in Redding, as bridges with inspired designs.

Popular culture

The 1944 pontoon bridge was featured in a chase scene appearing in the 1963 film It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World.^[1][24]

The 1968 arch bridge had a featured role in the film Head, featuring rock group The Monkees, released in 1968. The first scene of the film features the actual dedication ceremony for the bridge, which is interrupted by the Monkees running into the middle of the ceremony and Micky Dolenz jumping off the bridge. At the conclusion of the film, the Monkees return to the bridge and each of them jumps from it.

An unnamed bridge based on the 1968 arch bridge is also featured in the video game Grand Theft Auto V. It carries the "Elysian Fields Freeway" in the game.

View of the old Gerald Desmond Bridge from the north, looking south-southeast. Netting is visible on the bottom of the truss spans flanking the main arch span, serving to catch chunks of decaying concrete that occasionally fall from the structure.

See also

• Bridges portal
• California portal
• Vincent Thomas Bridge

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Gerald Desmond Bridge.

External links

• Gerald Desmond Bridge at Structurae
• New GD Bridge project page
• Port Of Long Beach GD bridge replacement page
• GD bridge replacement project at shimmick.com (contractor)

Bridges of the Cerritos Channel
West Commodore Schuyler F. Heim Bridge Gerald Desmond Bridge East Pacific Ocean