Los Angeles County, California Bridges: Gage Avenue, Florence Avenue, and Clara Street Bridges across the Los Angeles River

August 1999 (33.9605 Degrees, -118.1714 Degrees) Los Angeles River Bridges

Standing south of the Randolph Road Metro Railroad Bridge looking south at the Gage Avenue Bridge (53C0159) a five span T girder bridge, the Florence Avenue Bridge (53C0071) a six span T girder bridge, and the Clara Street Bridge (53C0158) a five span T girder bridge.

These bridges were built from 1939 (the Clara Street Bridge) to 1948 (the Florence Avenue Bridge). We have departed from the City Beautiful aesthetic of bridges that we studied in downtown L.A, but these bridges still have a certain elegance with their haunched girder spans.

Los Angeles County, California Bridges: Gage Avenue, Florence Avenue, and Clara Street Bridges across the Los Angeles River by Mark Yashinsky is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Los Angeles County, California Bridges: Slauson Avenue and Randolph Street Metro Bridges across the Los Angeles River

August 1999 (33.9797 Degrees, -118.1690 Degrees) Los Angeles River Bridges

Past the Atlantic Blvd. Bridge I turned around to photograph the Randolph Street Metro Railroad Bridge. It's a four span through girder structure. Looking back in the distance is the East Slauson Avenue Bridge (53C0445), a 5 span steel girder bridge built in 1942.

The railroad bridges are covered in graffiti, perhaps due to gang activity south of Los Angeles and also because the railroads may not have the resources to cover or remove graffiti.

Los Angeles County, California Bridges: Slauson Avenue and Randolph Street Metro Bridges across the Los Angeles River by Mark Yashinsky is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Los Angeles County, California Bridges: South Atlantic Boulevard Bridge across the Los Angeles River

August 1999 (33.9946 Degrees, -118.1821 Degrees) Los Angeles River Bridges

Looking north at the Atlantic Boulevard Bridge (53C0252) across the Los Angeles River in the City of Vernon. Atlantic Boulevard crosses the Los Angeles River again a few miles south of here in Compton. Today's bridge is a seven span deck arch on pier walls that was built in 1931. A through girder railroad bridge on four wide pier walls with cutwaters can be seen under its arches. Beyond the railroad bridge is the 13 span steel girder South Downey Road Bridge (53C0576). The buildings of downtown Los Angeles can be seen in the distance.

The Los Angeles River used to change it's course at flood stage and this wide concrete channel was built to try to keep it in place. In 1914 the a flood covered the City of Vernon. There are efforts by several groups to return the river to it's natural condition, while addressing the threat of flooding.

Los Angeles County, California Bridges: South Atlantic Boulevard Bridge across the Los Angeles River by Mark Yashinsky is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Los Angeles County, California Bridges: Soto Street Bridge across the Los Angeles River

August 1999 (34.0104 Degrees, -118.2198 Degrees) Los Angeles River Bridges

This weird looking structure is the Soto Street Bridge (53C0867), an eight span concrete deck arch that was built in 1928. They widened it in 1987 with precast girders sitting on pedestals that were mounted on the bridge's cutwaters. Not the most elegant solution. This bridge is on a high skew with the river and it intersects 26th Street just east of the bridge we studied yesterday. We can see the water tower for the City of Vernon behind the bridge.

Los Angeles County, California Bridges: Soto Street Bridge across the Los Angeles River by Mark Yashinsky is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Los Angeles County, California Bridges: 26th Street Bridge across the Los Angeles River

August 1999 (34.0144 Degrees, -118.2223 Degrees) Los Angeles River Bridges

This photo was taken at a bend in the Los Angeles River looking upstream at the 26th Street Bridge (53C0868), which is a three span deck arch that was built in 1958. I must have been standing on the Soto Street Bridge (that we'll study tomorrow) when I took this picture. Just beyond the 26th Street Bridge are two railroad bridges and then the Washington Blvd. Bridge that we studied yesterday. This is a heavily industrialized area south of downtown at the border of the City of Vernon. In the distance we can see the Los Angeles City Hall (behind a transmission tower) and the Verdugo Mountains.

Los Angeles County, California Bridges: 26th Street Bridge across the Los Angeles River by Mark Yashinsky is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Los Angeles County, California Bridges: East Washington Boulevard Bridge across the Los Angeles River

March 1931 (34.0174 Degrees, -118.2230 degrees) Los Angeles River Bridges

For some reason I never photographed the lovely Washington Boulevard Bridge (53C1375), which is just downstream from the Olympic Boulevard Bridge. However, I was able to get a photo of it from the UCLA Library/Digital Collection. It was taken on March 23, 1931, the opening day for this five span T girder bridge on wide pier walls. We can see that the city had continued to build bridges across the Los Angeles River using the 'Beautiful Cities' ethos. This bridge includes large pylons at the four corners decorated with terra cotta images of the people who designed and built this structure. Another drawing by the city (shown below) gives information on the original design and on the seismic retrofit that was done in the 1990s.

Los Angeles County, California River Bridges: East Olympic Boulevard Viaduct across the Los Angeles River

August 1999 (34.02555, -118.22501 Degrees) Los Angeles River Bridges

They were working on the East Olympic Boulevard Viaduct when I visited this site (in 1999), which may explain why I don't have a photo of the bridge's substructure. However, the photo above shows a little of the bridge's elaborate ornamentation. In the past, these details would have been accomplished by a sculptor. At the start of the 20th century they were accomplished with forms filled with concrete. The picture below is from a nice collection of photos from the US Library of Congress that were taken in 2002. It looks like they did a good job of restoring the bridge. It was originally the Ninth Street Bridge when it was built in 1925 but the street and the bridge were renamed in honor of the 1932 Los Angeles Olympics.

Los Angeles County, California River Bridges: Olympic Boulevard Viaduct across the Los Angeles River by Mark Yashinsky is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Los Angeles County, California Bridges: I-10 Bridge across the Los Angeles River

August 1999 (34.0292, -118.2261) Los Angeles River Bridges

After the Seventh Street Bridge, there's a tangle of bridges making up the I-10 San Bernardino/Santa Monica Freeway Bridges. The Los Angeles River Bridge and Overhead (53 2673) is one of six continuous prestressed concrete box girder bridges crossing the river just south of the Seventh Street Bridge. The above referenced bridge was built in 1989 with a single 260 ft span over the river.

Los Angeles County, California Bridges: I-10 Bridge across the Los Angeles River by Mark Yashinsky is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Los Angeles County, California Bridges: Seventh Street Bridge across the Los Angeles River

August 2013 (34.03444 Degrees, -118.22639 Degrees) Los Angeles River Crossings

Now that we're in the middle of the downtown area the Los Angeles River bridges are stacked more closely together. Just beyond yesterday's Sixth Street Bridge is the Seventh Street Bridge with more bridges visible behind it. What's apparent in the photo is that the city spent some money on the river crossing while the approach structures are unadorned and rather shabby looking. We last looked at today's bridge in 2013. As I mentioned at the time, the lower deck was built in 1910 for a trolley line. By 1920 the lower deck was determined to be too low and so they built a top deck and abandoned the bottom deck which is now used by the homeless.

Los Angeles County, California Bridges: Seventh Street Bridge across the Los Angeles River by Mark Yashinsky is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Los Angeles County, California Bridges: Sixth Street Viaduct across the Los Angeles River (4)

August 2013 (34.03722 Degrees, -118.23028 Degrees) Los Angeles River Bridges

We last visited this bridge in August 2013 before a meeting with the city to discuss replacing it with a jazzy new bridge (by HNTB) meant to revitalize the downtown area (on a very limited budget). This is one of those projects where the contractor is brought along at the early stages and either becomes a partner or can quit the project.

The computer-generated drawing of the bridge shown above is at a later stage of the design with isolation bearings sitting at mid-height on the columns to help it resist strong shaking during earthquakes. At the far right this long viaduct crosses over US-101, and then over a bunch of warehouses before crossing the railway yard and the river.

Los Angeles County, California Bridges: Sixth Street Viaduct across the Los Angeles River (4) by Mark Yashinsky is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Los Angeles County, California Bridges: Fourth Street Viaduct across the Los Angeles River (3)

August 2009 (34.04167 Degrees, -118.22694 Degrees) Los Angeles River Bridges

The Fourth Street Viaduct (53C0044), a 1837 ft long bridge built in 1930, was last studied in August of 2013. It's a long viaduct with a single 280 ft arch span across the Los Angeles River. Not only do the bridges in downtown Los Angeles have to cross the river, but they also have to cross a wide railroad switching yard.

This is another of the 'Beautiful City' bridges designed to make Los Angeles into a city of stature and importance. Today, this area is mostly warehouses and transients, with the downtown workers scurrying to their homes at night. The Disney Hall, Dolby Theater, Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, etc. entice visitors back downtown in the evening. We'll discuss efforts to transform the downtown area and the Los Angeles River in more detail tomorrow.

Los Angeles County, California Bridges: Fourth Street Viaduct across the Los Angeles River (3) by Mark Yashinsky is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Los Angeles County, California Bridges: East First Street Bridge across the Los Angeles River

August 1999 (34.04790 Degrees, -118.22988 Degrees) Los Angeles River Bridges

A quarter mile past the San Bernardino Freeway is the East First Street Bridge (53C1166). It's another of the Beaux Art Bridges that was meant to turn Los Angeles into a grand city like Paris and Rome. The First Street Bridge is a 28 span viaduct with two arch spans over the Los Angeles River. It was built in 1929, recently retrofit, and widened to carry the Gold Line Metro on its center lanes. We last studied this bridge in April of 2009. 

Los Angeles County, California Bridges: East First Street Bridge across the Los Angeles River by Mark Yashinsky is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Los Angeles County, California Bridges: Golden State Freeway Bridges across the Los Angeles River

August 1999 (34.0531 Degrees, -118.2288 Degrees) Los Angeles River Bridges 

Continuing downstream we came to the Golden State Freeway Bridges. This was originally a single iron bridge but it was rebuilt as several concrete bridges in the 1940's. The bridges are a mixture of rail, bus, and freeway (El Monte Busway, East Aliso Street, and Golden State Freeway) crossings. These are newer bridges and not part of the Beaux Art bridges that we've been studying, although they pay tribute to those bridges with an arch span over the river.

Los Angeles County, California Bridges: Golden State Freeway Bridges across the Los Angeles River by Mark Yashinsky is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Los Angeles County, California Bridges: Cesar E. Chavez Bridge across the Los Angeles River

August 1999 (34.05472 Degrees, -118.22667 Degrees) Los Angeles River Crossings

Just downstream from the North Main Street Bridge is the Cesar E. Chavez Viaduct (53C0130) that we previously visited in 2009. Most of these downtown Los Angeles river crossings include a beautiful span over the river and more prosaic spans for the approaches. This photo was taken from the deck to admire one of the many porticos on this bridge built in the Spanish Baroque style. This bridge replaced a steel truss bridge that had been damaged by floods in 1926. It was seismically retrofitted in the 1990s while every effort was made to preserve the original architectural elements on the bridge. The Spanish theme was meant to commemorate the long history of Spanish descendants in California and the Camino Real that stretches from San Diego northward and crosses this bridge.

Los Angeles County, California Bridges: Cesar E. Chavez Bridge across the Los Angeles River by Mark Yashinsky is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Los Angeles County, California Bridges: North Main Street Bridge across the Los Angeles River

August 1999 (34.06667 Degrees, -118.22333 Degrees) Los Angeles River Bridges

The next bridge downstream over the Los Angeles River is the North Main Street Bridge, a reinforced concrete deck arch built in 1910 by Carl Leonhardt and H.G. Parker. It is a three span, open spandrel arch, 300 ft long and 56 ft wide. It has a modern look for a 105 year old bridge with flat arch segments and minimalist openings for an open spandrel arch. It's as if the designers were showing how much shallower a three span arch bridge could be than the North Broadway Viaduct. The Bridgehunter mentioned that this bridge is currently being retrofitted, hopefully without changing it's interesting appearance.

Los Angeles County, California Bridges: North Main Street Bridge across the Los Angeles River by Mark Yashinsky is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Los Angeles County, California Bridges: North Spring Street Bridge across the Los Angeles River

August 1999 (34.07056 Degrees, -118.22500 Degrees) Los Angeles River Bridges

Just downstream from the North Broadway Viaduct is the North Spring Street Bridge (53C0859), a 682 ft long structure with two arch spans across the Los Angeles River. The North Broadway Viaduct was built in 1910 and the North Spring Street Bridge was designed in a similar style in 1928 but without the arch approach spans or the elegant architectural details. The North Spring Street is a pale imitation to it's neighbor and the city has spend little effort to bring it back to original state when they retrofitted it in the 1990s.

Los Angeles County, California Bridges: North Spring Street Bridge across the Los Angeles River by Mark Yashinsky is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Los Angeles County Bridges: California Bridges: North Broadway Avenue Bridge across the Los Angeles River (2)

August 1999 (34.01799 Degrees, -118.2250 Degrees) Los Angeles River Bridges

We've arrived at a group of bridges that were built at about the same time, in the same style, and with the same purpose. It starts with the North Broadway Avenue Bridge (being retrofit in the photo), the North Spring Street Bridge, and in the far distance the Main Street Bridge. Out of sight are the Cesar E. Chavez Viaduct, the E. First Street Bridge, the E. Fourth Street Bridge, the E. Sixth Street Bridge, the E. Seventh Street Bridge, and the E. Olympic Blvd. Bridge. They were mostly built in the 1910s and 1920s, they were built in the Belle Arts style and are mostly concrete arch bridges, and they were all built to persuade visitors that Los Angeles was someplace special. We'll study all of these bridges over the next week or two.

Los Angeles County Bridges: California Bridges: North Broadway Avenue Bridge across the Los Angeles River (2) by Mark Yashinsky is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Los Angeles County Bridges: California Bridges: North Broadway Avenue Bridge across the Los Angeles River (1)

April 2014 (34.01799 Degrees, -118.2250 Degrees) Los Angeles River Bridges

Four views over time of the North Broadway (Buena Vista) Bridge. In the photo above (taken from the North Spring Street Bridge just downstream in April 2014) this long viaduct is pretty much back to its original appearance. All of the architectural details from the original bridge built in 1910 have been restored.

The last time I visited was back in 1999 when they were retrofitting this bridge. In the photo above, the bridge is closed to traffic and the bottom of the arch (and the deck) have been removed. They must have restored the elaborate decorations on the bridge while they were strengthening it for earthquakes.

In the photo above, we see how the bridge (shown behind the N. Spring Street Bridge) looked sometime before 1994 with the old Sante Fe Railroad Bridge behind it (and with the fluted columns, bastions, and other decorations still missing).

In the photo above we can see how the bridge looked just after it was built, including most of the original architectural elements. It's probably cheaper to just replace these old bridges, but it's even more important to the culture of Los Angeles to preserve it's past.

Los Angeles County Bridges: California Bridges: North Broadway Avenue Bridge across the Los Angeles River (1) by Mark Yashinsky is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Los Angeles County Bridges: California Bridges: Santa Fe Railroad Bridge across the Los Angeles River

August 1999 (34.0745 Degrees, -118.2253 Degrees) Los Angeles River Bridge

The Arroyo Seco empties into the Los Angeles River just downstream of the Harbour Freeway Bridges. After passing under the bridges we're in downtown Los Angeles.  There are several railway sidings along this part of the river and the long railway viaduct in the foreground carries some of the tracks across the Los Angeles River.  This bridge replaced a three span Baltimore through truss bridge (frequently seen in old photos) in 1994.  In the background is the North Broadway Avenue Bridge (53C0545) that we'll study in more detail tomorrow.

The Atchinson, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railroad (SFRR) owned both the old and the new railroad bridges. The photos above and below provide views looking back upstream at the SFRR Bridge. It's unusual for a railroad to be carried by a reinforced concrete box girder bridge and this bridge is also unusual for its cantilever-like structure over the river.

Los Angeles County Bridges: California Bridges: Santa Fe Railroad Bridge across the Los Angeles River by Mark Yashinsky is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Los Angeles County, California Bridges: I-110 and I-5 Bridges across the Los Angeles River

August 1999 (34.0805 Degrees, -118.2270 Degrees) Los Angeles River Bridges

After crossing under the State Route 2 Bridge (53 0255), a seven span steel girder bridge, there were no other bridges across the L.A. River for several miles. However, as I approached the Metrolink switching yard (on the east side of the river) and Elysian Park (on the west side of the river) six bridges suddenly crossed the river at about the same location. In the photo above I'm looking downstream at the Metrolink Bridge in front of the two I-110 (Harbor Freeway) Bridges over the river.

In the photo above, I'm looking back upstream at the Harbor Freeway Bridges, the Metrolink Bridge, and the I-5 (Golden State) Freeway Bridge in the background. The Harbor Freeway Bridges (53 0042L/R) are 3 span steel girder bridges on tall piers that were built in 1936. The eastbound freeway lanes go through a tunnel before crossing the river (see photo below).

The photo below provides a closer view of the two span continuous through girder bridge that carries Metrolink trains over the river. It replaced a three span through truss bridge that is often seen in older photos (see photo below). Looking closely we can see a bit of the one span Southern Pacific Railroad Truss Bridge (53C0160) that was built in 1939 (behind the Metrolink Bridge) and the long Riverside Drive Sidehill Viaduct (53C1932) on the west (left) side of the river.

Los Angeles County, California Bridges: I-110 and I-5 Bridges across the Los Angeles River by Mark Yashinsky is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.