The Los Angeles harbor commission expressed concerns about a state project that would shutter all or most of the Vincent Thomas Bridge for one or more years during the panel’s Thursday, May 11, meeting — the first one in which LA Mayor Karen Bass’s three new appointees participated.
Some of the commissioners also raised the question of why a replacement bridge couldn’t be built instead. With only two vehicle lanes in each direction and relatively low-slung for a modern-day bridge, the Vincent Thomas already becomes easily backed up and is not tall enough to allow many of today’s larger ships to pass under it.
But building a new bridge, said Port of Los Angeles Executive Director Gene Seroka, would cost about “$6 billion in U.S. dollars in today’s money, much more than when it was built in the 1960s.”
On the Long Beach side of the twin ports, a new bridge opened in late 2021, succeeding the now-defunct Gerald Desmond span. That effort began in 2013 and cost $1.46 billion.
The Vincent Thomas Bridge work, which is needed to replace the 60-year-old roadbed on the mile-long suspension bridge that goes from San Pedro to Terminal Island (and, by extension, the city of Long Beach), is planned to be done in the time frame of 2025-27.
But it will create significant traffic issues during that time, especially in San Pedro and Wilmington.
The needed closures will hit longshore workers especially hard, as they rely on the bridge to get to and from work, with three shifts operating daily.
But the project will also be a challenge for truck drivers who transport cargo containers to and from the port complex.
“Obviously, this is of tremendous significance to our customers,” said Commissioner Diane Middleton, one of two holdovers from former Mayor Eric Garcetti’s administration.
Commission Vice President Ed Renwick is the other.
Port staff will put together a presentation on the project, which the commission requested Thursday. The presentation…
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