One Ride, Many Bridges

By Eric Richardson
Published: Friday, June 22, 2007, at 10:20AM

Eric Richardson

DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES —

Pictured are two of the ten bridges the IAAL-MAF rode across last night. Downtown, particularly the bits by the river, may seem an unlikely place for a bike ride, but there’s something kind of magical about rolling around the city on two wheels at night.

When the ride ended at Joy Mart in Little Tokyo we ran into Shannon (there to get some yogurt from cefiore), who prodded Will into saying his ten-bridge route was at least partially inspired by her April walk of seven spans.

If you want to duplicate the route yourself, take a look at the map Will put together.

Comments

ubrayj02 writes:

The 6th Street, Main Street, and Spring Street bridges are all going to be torn down and widened to allow more cars to travel into and out of East L.A. faster and in greater volumes than they do now.

On 6th street, something like 6,000 car trips take place across the bridge daily, going aroun 35 to 45 mph. When the widening is completed, 10,000 cars going 45 mph will fly across the bridge on a daily basis.

There are no plans to give a lane in either direction over to bus travel, bicycles, or pedestrian amenities. There are several plans the LA City Department of Public Works has drawn up that would place parks at the base, or underneath, the bridge.

Enjoy them while you can cyclists! You'll soon be riding across six to eight lane highways over the river. Breath deep.

More info here: http://eng.lacity.org/projects/bridge/index.htm

# on Jun.22.2007 AT 10:42 AM

Eric Richardson writes:

ubrayj02: I've attended a couple meetings for the sixth street bridge project, and the preliminary design goals call for ten foot sidewalks and shoulder space. The consultants specifically mentioned wanting to make the bridge pedestrian and cyclist friendly.

# on Jun.22.2007 AT 11:01 AM

David Kennedy writes:

How's the construction on the First Street bridge going? I see a lot of work and considerable progress is being made to accommodate the Gold Line extension. Incidentally, I think the Gold Line extension route would make a very interesting bike ride.

# on Jun.22.2007 AT 11:24 AM

Ed Fuentes writes:

It's moving forward. Here's a quick photo taken during a return trip via Metro Link. First St Bridge, North Side

# on Jun.22.2007 AT 11:45 AM

celia writes:

enough about construction and bridges! what about 'gina?! you guys were in little tokyo - did you check to see if pastagina is open yet?

# on Jun.22.2007 AT 05:19 PM

shannon writes:

well will did mention that he was interested in doing the bridge walk with me that day but he had a bike ride early that morning...

don't we all aspire to inspire at least one or two people during our time on this earth?

# on Jun.22.2007 AT 08:09 PM

Benjamin Pezzillo writes:

Nice photographs Eric. You are getting much better at your nocturnal urbanscapes...

# on Jun.23.2007 AT 05:50 PM

ubrayj02 writes:

Eric - thanks for the update. I attended the first meeting, in Boyle Heights, regarding the 6th Street bridge. The plans that I saw must have been different from those you saw. That is good news!

So, bicycle and pedestrian amenities are being built in to the new bridges - which is great. However, the increased speed and volume of car traffic that the BOE is building for is likely to make those amenities pretty unpleasant, and will likely erode the economic viability of the commercial corridors in East L.A. these bridges serve.

Thanks again for the correction, and I guess I'll have to check out the new plans and make it to the next series of hearing that will happen regarding the demolition and reconstruction of these brdiges.

# on Jun.25.2007 AT 01:20 PM

One Ride, Many Bridges

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