{"id":7857,"date":"2021-06-24T12:30:51","date_gmt":"2021-06-24T19:30:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sanpedrotoday.com\/?p=7857"},"modified":"2021-07-01T13:23:37","modified_gmt":"2021-07-01T20:23:37","slug":"a-troubled-bridge-over-waters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sanpedrotoday.com\/2021\/06\/24\/a-troubled-bridge-over-waters\/","title":{"rendered":"A Troubled Bridge Over Waters"},"content":{"rendered":"

We\u2019re hearing a lot about \u201cinfrastructure\u201d these days, and if you live in San Pedro, nothing says infrastructure like the roads leading to and from the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Now that the Heim Bridge connecting Wilmington and Terminal Island has been replaced by an expanded State Route 47 and the beautiful new bridge connecting Terminal Island to Long Beach has been completed, it\u2019s only natural to cast a wary eye at the Vincent Thomas Bridge. The Long Beach project brought horrific delays and detours for thousands of commuters, not to mention untold thousands of semitrailer drivers hauling containers to and from the twin ports, and it\u2019s hard to believe that the same scenario can be avoided in San Pedro\u2019s near future. The Desmond was not only outdated, but it was also unsafe, and it was five years younger than the VTB, which opened in 1963.<\/p>\n

The prospect of replacing the VTB with a bridge able to meet the needs of the nation\u2019s largest harbor complex (at least four lanes each way) is a daunting one. Still, anyone using the bridge today knows the status quo has become untenable \u2014 unless you happen to work for Caltrans, which is in charge of that vital span over the Main Channel.<\/p>\n

You wouldn\u2019t think that you\u2019d need a degree in traffic engineering to know that the VTB is wholly inadequate for handling today\u2019s transportation requirements, but you\u2019d be wrong. At least, that was the impression I received when I contacted a Caltrans official in response to an article that said the VTB had reached \u201ccapacity\u201d in 2010.<\/p>\n

Asked to explain that, the anonymous Caltrans emailer wrote, \u201cVincent Thomas Bridge has two lanes in each direction and based on the latest available traffic volume data, the mainline (or \u2018through lanes\u2019) capacity is able to handle the traffic demand.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the next sentence, however, Caltrans says, \u201cCurrently, at the west end of Vincent Thomas Bridge (at the interchange of State Route 47 at Harbor Boulevard), traffic routinely backs up on both off-ramps during peak periods, and this condition is expected to worsen with projected growth.\u201d The \u201cpeak periods\u201d of this nightmare situation are roughly all day \u2014 and does that \u201cgrowth\u201d even take into account what weekends will be like when the new San Pedro Fish Market opens at that very intersection?<\/p>\n

The port and city are working on a project \u201cto reconfigure the interchange to improve safety and operation for vehicles exiting the highway\u2026 expected to go out to bid in 2022.\u201d It sounds like traffic headaches will be continuing for some time.<\/p>\n

The problem with all of the Terminal Island bridges is that they were built in the pre-container era. In other words, they weren\u2019t built to handle a constant stream of 18-wheelers hauling 40-foot containers to and from terminals. And even though the Desmond and VTB could handle those heavy loads, no one envisioned the day when two lanes each way would simply not be sufficient. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Caltrans\u2019 most recent traffic figures (2018) show 53,000 vehicles a day at the west end of VTB. The total number of trucks was 4,664, 8.8 percent of the total traffic, and of that total, only 1,910 were trucks with five or more axles.<\/p>\n

One might think, well, that\u2019s not too bad, but one of my all-time favorite quotes remains, \u201cThere are lies, damned lies, and statistics.\u201d The ports have been setting records nearly every month for numbers of containers moved, so we know that the 2018 numbers have dramatically increased. But even at the 2018 rate, the numbers are misleading because how often are both lanes going in each direction open? Because of the abuse the bridge has taken for so many years at \u201ccapacity,\u201d maintenance is nearly continual. That means on a two-lane bridge, one lane is closed, and it\u2019s always at those \u201cpeak hours.\u201d And that doesn\u2019t figure in the way-too-frequent accident or simple breakdown of an 18-wheeler. With those semis crawling up the bridge at 10 mph, traffic backs up for miles. Even with both lanes open, traffic often bottlenecks because no one enforces the rule of slower traffic (read trucks) staying in the far right lane. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Finally, the question certainly on the mind of every commuter (or at least mine) when the \u201cLane Closed Ahead\u201d signs are up at \u201cpeak hours\u201d is why doesn\u2019t Caltrans do its maintenance\/repair work in the off-hours?<\/p>\n

The response from Caltrans is, \u201cOur highway workers are most at risk when traffic speeds are the highest. This would be the hours of darkness. We do our best to ensure all our lane closures are posted to Waze and the other apps to help minimize the impact to traffic. We are committed to keeping all our bridges \u2014 including the Vincent Thomas Bridge \u2014 open, safe, and beautiful for the public.\u201d<\/p>\n

Is Caltrans saying that nightside longies drive too fast?<\/p>\n

The reality on the ground is that posting closures don\u2019t help because there are no good alternates. For instance, if you live in San Pedro and can\u2019t make it over the bridge, the only workaround is Anaheim to State Route 47. In other words, a 10-minute trip turns into a 20-minute trip \u2014 if you don\u2019t run into any trains along the way.<\/p>\n

Trains. Don\u2019t get me started. spt<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We\u2019re hearing a lot about \u201cinfrastructure\u201d these days, and if you live in San Pedro, nothing says infrastructure like the roads leading to and from the ports of Los Angeles and Long […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":6728,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_price":"","_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_header":"","_tribe_default_ticket_provider":"","_tribe_ticket_capacity":"0","_ticket_start_date":"","_ticket_end_date":"","_tribe_ticket_show_description":"","_tribe_ticket_show_not_going":false,"_tribe_ticket_use_global_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_global_stock_level":"","_global_stock_mode":"","_global_stock_cap":"","_tribe_rsvp_for_event":"","_tribe_ticket_going_count":"","_tribe_ticket_not_going_count":"","_tribe_tickets_list":"[]","_tribe_ticket_has_attendee_info_fields":false},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nA Troubled Bridge Over Waters - San Pedro Today<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sanpedrotoday.com\/2021\/06\/24\/a-troubled-bridge-over-waters\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A Troubled Bridge Over Waters - 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