Final beam for Gerald Desmond Bridge replacement

The US$1.47 billion project was started in 2013 and open later this year.
By David Arminas May 1, 2020 Read time: 2 mins
Final beam for California’s first cable-stayed bridge for vehicles (photo courtesy Gerald Desmond Bridge Replacement Project)

The final steel beam has been installed for the replacement Port of Long Beach bridge - California’s first cable-stayed bridge for vehicles.

The beam was carefully lifted into position almost two years after construction began and which is expected to open later this year. The US$1.47 billion project to replace the current Gerald Desmond Bridge was started in 2013. The current bridge, finished in 1968, is a through arch steel structure that carries four lanes of Ocean Boulevard from Interstate 710 in Long Beach,

The new bridge will provide a higher clearance for cargo ships, possess a high degree of structural resilience against earthquakes and have a 100-year minimum lifespan. There will be six traffic lanes and four emergency shoulders, a bike and pedestrian path with scenic overlooks and more efficient transition ramps and connectors to improve traffic flow.

Assembling the main span over the Port’s Back Channel began in April 2018 with the lifting of the initial bolted sections of steel flooring to be attached to the first set of cables from the two 515-foot-tall towers.

Main-span construction requires deck sections to be added equally on both sides of the towers. Each floor beam is about 140 feet long and 10 feet tall, weighs about 32 tons and is connected to other steel components known as edge girders with more than 200 bolts.

Once a section of floor beams is bolted together, crews attach it to the tower with dozens of cables, then place pre-cast concrete road deck panels that form the road deck. There are 117 floor beams that support a main span that rises 205 feet over the water.

Additional major tasks left to do include a post-tensioning process by which cables are installed horizontally through the floor and pulled tight to increase the strength of the main span concrete deck.

The project is a joint effort by Caltrans – the California Department of Transportation - and the Port of Long Beach, with additional funding from the US Department of Transportation and the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority.

Road Structures

Related Content

  • Itinera wins Sweden’s Skurusunds Bridge near Stockholm
    January 21, 2019
    Italian contractor Itinera will build the new 99m-long and 31m-wide Skurusunds Bridge near Stockholm in Sweden. Trafikverket, the Swedish transport administration, awarded the €75 million contract to Itinera, part of Gruppo Gavio. The new bridge will be parallel to the existing bridge which will remain. It handles around 52,000 vehicles daily, many of them commuting to and from Stockholm. Work will include improvements to traffic junctions at Skuru and Björknäs. The four-lane steel bridge will have
    Read More
  • Developments in concrete road construction
    February 7, 2012
    Innovative developments are pushing forward concrete road construction techniques. The concrete road sector looks to benefit from some key innovations and developments now coming to market or being employed in different territories. Irregular weather and environmental conditions can alter the rate at which concrete cures, with a risk of plastic shrinkage cracks that can compromise the integrity of a pavement. Contractors cannot control the environmental conditions of a paving project and when weather patter
    Read More
  • Concern over the state of US bridges
    April 1, 2019
    Bridge condition is a serious concern in the US, according to a new report from American Road & Transportation Builders Association (ARTBA).
    Read More
  • Controversial Russian bridge opens
    August 10, 2018
    The first stage of a controversial Russian bridge project is now complete, with the link having been opened to use by cars and buses. The Kerch Strait bridge spans the Black Sea, connecting Russia’s Taman Peninsula in Krasnodar with Crimea, the latter having been controversially annexed by Russia from Ukraine in 2014. The official opening of the 19km-long bridge was carried out by Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, who drove across the link in a Russian-manufactured Kamaz truck to reach the city of Kerch.
    Read More

Highlighted Content