Los Angeles River Bridges: The Glendale Hyperion Viaduct

The Glendale Hyperion Viaduct is a large interchange that carries traffic between Hollywood and Glendale across the Golden State Freeway and the Los Angeles River.  It is about five miles (8 km) north of Broadway Viaduct (the Buena Vista Bridge) which is the next historic arch bridge downstream.

The design of this interchange is credited to Merrill Butler who was the chief bridge engineer for the City of Los Angeles from the 1920's to the 1960's.  It is actually two arch bridges supported on the same long pier walls over the Los Angeles River.  The closer bridge (Glendale Boulevard Bridge) is 316 ft (96 m) long and 27.6 ft (8.4 m) wide. Note the architectural details such as the towers at the ends of the bridge and the pedestals supporting lamps over the piers.  The structure behind it is the Hyperion Avenue Bridge, which is 518.1 ft (158 m) long, 67.9 ft (21 m) wide, and has the same architectural details. Both bridges are reinforced concrete closed spandrel deck arches. 

The interchange includes six bridges as well as plaques and monuments to honor the soldiers who gave their lives during World War I (the interchange was opened a little after the first Memorial Day).

This is an almost a rural setting in the middle of Los Angeles.  The Los Angeles River is allowed to flow somewhat  freely (the channel doesn't have a concrete bottom, trees are growing in the river, and we can see the Verdugos Mountains in the distance) just south of Griffith Park and Los Feliz.

Los Angeles River Bridges: Glendale Hyperion Viaduct by Mark Yashinsky is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.