Sixth Street Viaduct


The Sixth Street Viaduct, also known as the Sixth Street Bridge, is a viaduct bridge that connects 6th Street in the Arts District in Downtown Los Angeles with Whittier Boulevard in the Boyle Heights neighborhood. The Sixth Street Viaduct spans the Los Angeles River, the Santa Ana Freeway, and the Golden State Freeway, as well as Metrolink, Amtrak, and Union Pacific railroad tracks and several local streets.
The first incarnation, which opened in 1932 and demolished in 2016, was replaced with the second incarnation in 2022. The predecessor was composed of three independent structures: the reinforced concrete west segment, the central steel arch segment over the river, and the reinforced concrete east segment. In 1986, the Caltrans bridge survey found the Sixth Street Viaduct eligible for inclusion in the National Register of Historic Places.
The demolition of the predecessor bridge was due to serious structural issues, including several large cracks, resulting from the high alkaline content of the concrete composition, due to architectural unsophistication. As a result, concerns over the structure's seismic instability outweighed its historical status, leading to its closure for demolition and replacement in January 2016. The new replacement bridge was completed six years later and opened on July 9, 2022.
By June 13, 2024, wire thieves had stripped out 38,000' of copper wiring powering the bridge's LED lighting system, leaving it entirely darkened.

Demolition and replacement

During the construction of the viaduct in the 1930s, an onsite plant was used to supply the concrete for construction. However, the quality of the concrete turned out to have a high alkali content and led to an alkali-silica reaction, which created cracks in the concrete and sapped the strength of the structure. It is the only one of the historic L.A. River viaduct bridges to suffer from ASR.
Estimates stated that the viaduct had a 70% probability of collapse due to a major earthquake within 50 years. After initial demolition plans were delayed, the bridge was closed on January 27, 2016, and demolition began on February 5, 2016. It took nine months to demolish the existing bridge.
Prior to the demolition, Los Angeles mayor Eric Garcetti recorded the R&B song "101SlowJam", backed by musicians from the city's Roosevelt High School, and issued it via a video on his own YouTube channel. The public service announcement video advertised the closure of parts of the 101 Freeway to accommodate the demolition of the viaduct. An estimated of concrete, 1,245 tons of structural steel, and 4,200 tons of rebar were hauled away as construction began on the replacement.
The newly completed bridge is designed by architect Michael Maltzan and the HNTB Design-Build team and contractors Skanska and Stacy and Witbeck. The new design has several green spaces built under and around it. Bridge construction has experienced several years-long construction delays and multimillion-dollar cost increases. When opened, the new span included single-direction bicycle lanes separated from motor traffic with rubber curb bumps and impact-forgiving bollards, a design feature that was universally panned as unsafe and dangerous to cyclists using the bridge. A need for emergency vehicle access was given as justification for this design decision by officials, however this has been challenged by advocacy groups and community members. The bridge opened on July 9, 2022.

Cultural depictions of the 1932 incarnation

The former bridge was a well-known local landmark, and was iconic due to appearing in numerous films, television shows, music videos and video games since 1932.

Films

I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang Them! Hot Rod Girl Point Blank Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song Top of the Heap That Man Bolt Freaky Friday The Gumball Rally Bare Knuckles Grease Boulevard Nights Vice Squad Blue Thunder Repo Man Savage Streets To Live and Die in L.A. Armed and Dangerous Cyclone The Wild Pair They Live Colors The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! Tapeheads Hit List Robocop 2 Terminator 2: Judgment Day Sketch Artist Blood In Blood Out The Mask My Family The Crow: City of Angels Playing God Blade Gone in 60 Seconds Swordfish Biker Boyz The Core National Security Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines S.W.A.T. Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy Be Cool Dirty Crank Transformers Drive Horrible Bosses In Time Zombie Apocalypse The Dark Knight Rises Gangster Squad Stand Up Guys The Purge: Anarchy Knight of Cups Furious 7 Lowriders Killing Joan Ambulance The Bad Guys

Music videos

Television

Harry O – "Such Dust as Dreams Are Made On" Hart to Hart – Season 2, Episode 20 "Blue Chip Murder" St. Elsewhere – Season 3, Episode 1 "Playing God" Remington Steele – Season 2, Episode 15 "Elegy in Steele" Cagney & Lacey – Season 4, Episode 2 "Heat" L.A. Heat – Season 2, Episode "Little Saigon" Columbo – Season 13, Episode 5 " Columbo Likes the Nightlife" 24 – Season 3, Episode 22 ; Season 4, Episode 14 ; & Season 8, Episode 8 Lost – Season 3, Episodes 22 and 23 "Through the Looking Glass" Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles – Season 2, Episode 1 "Samson and Delilah" The Amazing Race – Season 15, Episode 1 "They Thought Godzilla Was Walking Down the Street" Melrose Place – Pilot Bosch – Season 1, Chapter Four: Fugazi Fear the Walking Dead – Pilot Stitchers – Season 2, Episode 3 "The One That Got Away" BoJack Horseman – Season 5, Episode 9 "Ancient History" On Cinema – "Decker"

Video games

Grand Theft Auto: San AndreasL.A. NoireTransformers: Revenge of the FallenGrand Theft Auto VMidnight Club: Los Angeles

Cultural depictions of the 2022 incarnation

Film

Music videos

Television

  • SWAT S6: E15 “To Protect and to Serve” -

Commercials

Mazda Nissan - Promoted by Brie Larson

Artworks

"Colibrís Gigantes en el Puente de la Calle Sexta" a 2024 mixed-media art piece by Ithaka Darin Pappas portraying two gigantic hummingbirds feeding from cactus flowers growing directly from the concrete arches of the Sixth Street Viaduct.