Burning Bridges at 6th Street

The Sixth Street Viaduct, a historic bridge spanning the LA River into Boyle Heights, has been flagged for demolition in the next few years. The bridge, built in 1932 is one of 13 historic bridges connecting Downtown to East LA over the river channel, railroad tracks, and industrial lots. Despite preservationists' pleas for conservation and retrofitting of the bridge (mainly from the LA Conservancy), the city favors the replacement of the bridge as a new bridge would last about 150% longer than a retrofitted bridge. The viaduct, which has been weakened by a chemical reaction known as alkali-silica reaction, will most likely collapse in the next 50 years if no action is taken.

The city hired San Francisco bridge-focused architecture firm Donald MacDonald, FAIA to create five different schemes for the design of the new bridge. They range from one exact replica of the existing bridge to two historic-looking designs to two modern cable-structure designs. The replica scheme would be the costliest at $402 million, while the cheapest would be a simple freeway-like concrete deck spanning the river. But the city has made it clear they are interested in creating a bridge that might be a landmark monument for the area.

The architect and engineering teams have agreed that whatever scheme is chosen, it will take into consideration the vocabulary of the existing art deco architecture along the river. After the draft EIR is issued in the coming weeks, the final EIR will arrive around the end of this year, and construction should begin in 2012. But considering the retirement of the rusty train tracks and the drip drip dribble that is the LA River, wouldn't it be prudent to consider a simple at-grade street in place of a big dramatic bridge?