The replacement of Los Angeles’s Sixth Street Viaduct is a 3,500-foot-long cast-in-place concrete, network-tied, and through-arch bridge. The original Sixth Street Viaduct was also designed by local firm Michael Maltzan Architecture (MMA), and will directly connect the Boyle Heights neighborhood to Downtown Los Angeles in under a years time.
Michael Maltzan and HNTB Corporation created a replacement idea and design dubbed “Ribbon of Light,” in 2012. They view it as a chance to transform an auto-centric piece of infrastructure into a community focused structure that represents the 21st-century values of connectivity and walkability.
Architect: Michael Maltzan Architecture
Infrastructure Design Firm: HNTB Corporation
General Contractor: Skanska and Stacy and Witbeck
Landscape Architect: Hargreaves Jones
“The viaduct is more than a simple replacement thoroughfare crossing the Los Angeles River,” noted MMA principal architect Michael Maltzan. “It foresees a multimodal future for Los Angeles, one that accommodates cars, incorporates significant new bicycle connections, and increases connectivity for pedestrians, not only at the bridge’s endpoints, but along the entirety of the span, linking the bridge, the Los Angeles River, and urban landscapes below.”
“The new bridge is base isolated, allowing it to move independently from the ground below in the event of an earthquake,” said MMA associate Paul Stoelting. “The base isolators are steel, triple-friction bearings, 6 feet in diameter and placed on top of each foundational shaft, which allow movement of 30 inches in any direction.”
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