6th Street Bridge Los Angeles

[Plutonic Panda]

This bridge reopens July 9th!

https://la.urbanize.city/post/new-sixth-street-viaduct-open-july-9?fbclid=IwAR2HZEp1Al2K5Gqk7g---oLRvFN9bj61P_D7hfF0dE0V37h7psYk0dl5e8g

[Henry]

I wonder how Randy Newman feels about the new 6th Street Bridge...

(IIRC, it's the last street to be named in the bridge--get that?--to I Love L.A., and technically the only street mentioned, because the other three are all boulevards)

[skluth]

This bridge reopens July 9th!

https://la.urbanize.city/post/new-sixth-street-viaduct-open-july-9?fbclid=IwAR2HZEp1Al2K5Gqk7g---oLRvFN9bj61P_D7hfF0dE0V37h7psYk0dl5e8g

Does that include the idyllic park below the bridge as shown on the promotional material for the new bridge? Or should I just add one of these to my question? 

[pderocco]

Looks quite beautiful. But they probably could have built two bridges of that length for the price of all that beauty.

[Max Rockatansky]

It's too deliberately modernist for my tastes. 

[ARMOURERERIC]

I know it would likely never be needed, but we're they smart enough to provide a longer span over da 101in case they ever wanted to make any corridor upgrades.

[pderocco]

It also seems out of place. It has (or will have) a park underneath it to attract pedestrians and bicyclists, yet the neighborhood it passes through east of the river is a grimy light industrial area in which the buildings are nearly covered with graffiti and the alleys are home to the homeless and their garbage. Do they really think that this will lead to the gentrification of the neighborhood? I fear the existing neighborhood will win that competition, and the bridge will end up just another skid row, covered with garish illegible gibberish out of a spray can.

[pderocco]

I know it would likely never be needed, but we're they smart enough to provide a longer span over da 101in case they ever wanted to make any corridor upgrades.

In Street View, it looks like there's room for at least another lane on each side, if the eastern embankment is cut back.

By the way, there's a Hyundai ad that has a brief clip of a bridge that has the same type of arches:

https://www.ispot.tv/ad/bKDO/hyundai-your-journey-sonata-and-elantra-song-by-baybe-t2 at 18 seconds.

Does anyone know where that is? As usual, some of the locations in the ad are in downtown Los Angeles, but not that bridge.

[Plutonic Panda]

Just drove it the other night. Absolutely beautiful bridge. Of course the biking community is mad that the bike lanes aren't protected by reinforced bollard or a concrete barrier. The bike lanes look fine to me and I'll probably bike it next week.

[SkyPesos]

Of course the biking community is mad that the bike lanes aren't protected by reinforced bollard or a concrete barrier. The bike lanes look fine to me and I'll probably bike it next week.

Another complaint about the bike lines I've seen (according to a Youtube video recommended to me) mention that the bike lanes on the bridge is "isolated", and suddenly turn into sharrows at both ends of the bridge.

[Scott5114]

Of course the biking community is mad that the bike lanes aren't protected by reinforced bollard or a concrete barrier. The bike lanes look fine to me and I'll probably bike it next week.

Another complaint about the bike lines I've seen (according to a Youtube video recommended to me) mention that the bike lanes on the bridge is "isolated", and suddenly turn into sharrows at both ends of the bridge.

That seems to be a complaint borne of ignorance as to how infrastructure improvements are done more than anything else. (Of course a bridge project is not going to construct additional miles of bike lanes on totally unrelated roads leading to/from it...)

[Alps]

Of course the biking community is mad that the bike lanes aren't protected by reinforced bollard or a concrete barrier. The bike lanes look fine to me and I'll probably bike it next week.

Another complaint about the bike lines I've seen (according to a Youtube video recommended to me) mention that the bike lanes on the bridge is "isolated", and suddenly turn into sharrows at both ends of the bridge.

That seems to be a complaint borne of ignorance as to how infrastructure improvements are done more than anything else. (Of course a bridge project is not going to construct additional miles of bike lanes on totally unrelated roads leading to/from it...)

Exactly. You build within your project limits and provide for future connectivity to others. That's not just common, that's pretty much universal.

[skluth]

Of course the biking community is mad that the bike lanes aren't protected by reinforced bollard or a concrete barrier. The bike lanes look fine to me and I'll probably bike it next week.

Another complaint about the bike lines I've seen (according to a Youtube video recommended to me) mention that the bike lanes on the bridge is "isolated", and suddenly turn into sharrows at both ends of the bridge.

That seems to be a complaint borne of ignorance as to how infrastructure improvements are done more than anything else. (Of course a bridge project is not going to construct additional miles of bike lanes on totally unrelated roads leading to/from it...)

Exactly. You build within your project limits and provide for future connectivity to others. That's not just common, that's pretty much universal.

There is also the complaint that bike lanes aren't protected enough. "Caltrans requested that the bike lanes be "˜permeable' to act as an emergency lane" to allow emergency vehicles to use them. This has meant that cyclists are using the sidewalk which is protected by a concrete barrier. I agree the complaint that the bike lanes not continuing on the streets is dumb as it was outside the scope of the project.

[pderocco]

I drove this last night, and agree it's a nice bridge. But it has one problem that I think they'll have to fix. The night lighting is mostly provided by thousands of LEDs embedded in the parapets at about knee level. They're brilliant, with fairly narrow beams perpendicular to the parapets, so that drivers aren't blinded by the lights further down the street. However, turn your head left or right while driving, and the lights on either side are quite blinding. Since they look like they're primarily for illuminating the sidewalks, I think they'll have to redirect them at a downward angle, or dim them and add more conventional lighting.

I didn't stop to take a look at the park area underneath. At some point, I'd like to bring cameras and a tripod, and walk around photographing the bridge at dusk.

(The title of this thread is going to confuse someone. "What? They just built the damned thing!")

[Plutonic Panda]

^^^ yeah it would be nice if the title was updated to something like "The New 6th St. Viaduct"  or something.

PS, the park isn't finished yet and won't be for another year I believe.

[roadfro]

^^^ yeah it would be nice if the title was updated to something like "The New 6th St. Viaduct"  or something.

I removed "to be demolished" from the subject line in the first message of the thread, so that won't be confusing in the board list (but it didn't update the subject of all messages in the thread).

[skluth]

But it will work for all future posts like this one. Thanks.

[Plutonic Panda]

^^^ yeah it would be nice if the title was updated to something like "The New 6th St. Viaduct"  or something.

I removed "to be demolished" from the subject line in the first message of the thread, so that won't be confusing in the board list (but it didn't update the subject of all messages in the thread).

Awesome and thank you!

[Alps]

I went one better. New topic.