LOS ANGELES (AP) — The newest bridge in Los Angeles, a $588-million architectural marvel with views of the downtown skyline, opened to great fanfare, on July 10. It has already been closed, to great dismay, several times since then amid chaos and collisions.
The Sixth Street Viaduct — which soars over the concrete-lined Los Angeles River to connect downtown to the historic Eastside — quickly became a hotspot for street racing, graffiti and illegal takeovers that draw hundreds of spectators to watch drivers perform dangerous stunts in their vehicles.
Social media stunts have abounded as well — in one case, a man sat in a barber’s chair for a haircut in the middle of the lanes. And the crashes are piling up, including a three-car collision where one driver, who had been part of a street takeover, left his white Dodge Challenger and ran from the scene. He later turned himself in.
The Los Angeles Police Department has closed the bridge multiple times — an exact count was not available, Wednesday — and in the latest move, announced, Tuesday, that it would be “closed until further notice due to illegal activity and public safety concerns” before backtracking and reopening it hours later.
Officials hope to install speed bumps, safety fences and cameras on the less than three-week-old bridge to curtail the behavior. In the meantime, officers are impounding vehicles and issuing citations.
The bridge spans 3,500 feet from the trendy Arts District to Boyle Heights, a traditionally working class Latino neighborhood, in the largest and most expensive bridge ever built in the city.
Known as the “Ribbon of Light” for its thousands of LED lights and tilted arches — which have already attracted daredevil pedestrians and skateboarders — it replaced an 84-year-old Art Deco bridge.
That structure, seen in countless Hollywood movies including “Grease” and “Terminator 2,” was demolished, in 2016, after a chemical reaction weakened its concrete over decades.