Construction of the last of the 20 arches on the Sixth Street Viaduct in downtown Los Angeles is set to be completed soon. A total of 260 cubic yards of concrete will be poured at a rate of four vertical feet per hour. Pouring the final arch will take between 12 and 14 hours. According to the Los Angeles Bureau of Engineering, each arch requires more than 65 truckloads of concrete. The US$588 million project to replace the former bridge, which was erected in 1932 and was judged seismically weak, is slated to be finished this summer. The Federal Highway Administration, Caltrans, and the city of Los Angeles all contributed to the project’s funding.
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The downtown side of the Sixth Street Viaduct park will include a rain garden, planted seating area, a play and performance lawn, a meadow, a sculpture garden, a dog play area, an adult fitness section, cafe and restrooms, a sloped river gateway, an urban forest, and terraces, according to the Bureau of Engineering’s plans. The park’s plans include a skateboard area, a meadow, a picnic area, a synthetic turf soccer field, flexible courts sized for basketball, futsal, and volleyball, a play and performance lawn, a promenade, a children’s play area, a landscaped seating area, an adult fitness area, a rain garden, a dog play area, and grilling spaces on the Boyle Heights side.
More on the 20 Arches on the Sixth Street in Los Angeles
The architectural company HNTB Corp. and Los Angeles-based architect Michael Maltzan collaborated on the “Ribbon of Light” concept. The Bureau of Engineering also intends to build a 12-acre park beneath the bridge with access to the Los Angeles River, public art, recreational activities, and other amenities. The park project earned US$8.5 million in subsidies from Prop 68’s Statewide Park Program last month. The Los Angeles Bureau of Engineering collaborated with Skanska-Stacy & Witbeck, the general contractor for the viaduct repair project. Each arch is 10 feet broad and 300 feet long.
