Los Angeles Enjoys Its New Bridge a Little Too Much
The long-awaited Sixth Street Viaduct has proved to be irresistible to pedestrians and neighborhood residents — but also graffiti artists and exhibitionist drivers.
Less than three weeks ago, with fireworks, crowds and the civic joy that only a new Instagram backdrop can muster, America’s second-largest city christened a stunning new $588 million landmark: a bridge that would create a “ribbon of light” between the downtown arts district and the historic bungalows of East Los Angeles.
With its 10 sets of white, lit arches, the glistening Sixth Street Viaduct — as it is formally known — replaced an 83-year-old Art Deco bridge over the concrete Los Angeles River that for generations had been a renowned Hollywood location for film noir car chases and dystopian hellscapes. Critics declared it an instant icon. Mayor Eric Garcetti, who narrated a tongue-in-cheek slow jam in the bridge’s honor when construction started, called it “a love letter” to the city.
Now Los Angeles is loving it back.
The Ribbon of Light will connect the Boyle Heights neighbourhood in the east of the city with the western Downtown and Arts District.
Constructed primarily from concrete and steel, the bridge is 100 feet (30.48 metres) wide and curved along a 5,000-foot (1,524 metres) radius.
"Paying homage to the design of the earlier bridge, the new viaduct places the tallest pairs of its sculptural arches over the LA River, where the original arches stood, and positions another taller pair as a gateway on the east," said the architecture studio.
