Cultural Heritage Commission Sets Hearing to Weigh In On 6th Street Viaduct
Ed Fuentes
A nighttime rendering of the "3-Dual Tower Cable Supported Viaduct" design was presented in April as a possible replacement for the 6th Street Bridge.
DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES — On Thursday morning the city's Cultural Heritage Commission will hear a presentation of the project to replace the crumbling but historic 6th Street Viaduct.
After hearing from Bureau of Engineering staff and project consultants, the body will hear public comments and then finalize its comment letter on the project.
The commission weighs in on the project because the bridge is Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument 905, but it was only given that designation in January of 2008, a year after the first meetings on a potential replacement took place.
In a proposed letter available on the Planning website as a PDF, the body criticizes a lack of options that would retain the historic designation and preserve part or all of the original structure.
The 6th Street bridge is one of a dozen historic structures to cross the Los Angeles river as it passes through Downtown, suffers from a condition called Alkali Silica Reaction (ASR). Described as "cancer," ASR combines with moisture to crumble concrete from the inside.
As part of the current project, the City has commissioned a wide range of experts to assess whether the current bridge could be saved, but reports continue to say that retrofit options would only slow the damage and would destroy much of the look of the structure.
The project recently issued its Draft Environmental Impact Report. All comments received during the Draft EIR stage must be responded to in the final EIR document.
The Cultural Heritage Commission meeting will take place on Thursday, July 30, at 10am in City Hall Room 350.
Richard Figueroa on July 28, 2009, at 11:56AM – #1
How much time is there between now and when the bridge is unsafe?
Eric Richardson (@blogdowntown) on July 28, 2009, at 12:38PM – #2
I don't believe there's any definite point. It just grows increasingly more likely to someday fall down.
David on July 28, 2009, at 01:48PM – #3
It's something like a 75% chance to fall down within in the next 100 years, which bascially means it is quickly getting to the point that if it is not replaced, it needs to be closed.
JDRCRASH on July 28, 2009, at 01:57PM – #4
The Big One is most certainly going to occur within the next 100 years(if not 50), so that should be even more incentive to replace it.