It is time to say farewell to Los Angeles Sixth Street Bridge. Last Saturday there was a little going away party for the Sixth Street Bridge. According to LA Curbed, crowds came out to bid farewell to the bridge. They enjoyed the music, food, car show and the spectacular fireworks display.
LA Times has reported that the curving 3,500-foot bridge will be torn down next year. The bridge connects the downtown Arts District to Boyle Heights. The structure needed to be torn down because of a chemical reaction that can eventually cause the bridge to destabilize.
The bridge is said to be closed on Jan. 3 and the demolition is expected to begin on Jan, 8. The Sixth Street replacement project which is worth $428 million has already started and it is set to be complete in 2019.
The new bridge will still echo the design of the 1932 structure which is "a four-lane road framed by curved arches of varying heights following the approximate path of a stone skipped across a pond."
The bridge is planned in a way that has equal space for pedestrians, bicyclists and cars which will connect two different communities. The farewell festival that happened showed that it is possible for two communities to integrate. Given that most of the residents of Boyle Heights are low-income and Latino community while the Arts District are most likely the affluent ones.
The bridge is known as prime cruising grounds for low-rider clubs as shared by Peter Cruz, one of the members of Techniques low-rider club as he said, "Cruising it, man!"
Cruz also shared that they have been in the operations for 40 years and just last month they were able to "draw enough hydraulically flamboyant automobiles to stretch across the bridge to Boyle Heights."
Cruz then said, "It'll be sad to see it go," and added, "This is our history."
For the meantime, the low-rider clubs will need to find a new place where they can cruise.
