sixth street viaduct

Watch Two Bridges Being Taken Down

Caltrans was involved in two very different bridge demolitions last week, and has posted time-lapse footage of both of them.

By Melanie Curry

2:03 PM PST on February 11, 2016

A blimp, a bridge, and waiting barges. Image: screengrab from Caltrans' live webcast of Bay Bridge takedown — A blimp, a bridge, and waiting barges. Image: screengrab from Caltrans’ live webcast of Bay Bridge takedown

Caltrans was involved in two very different bridge demolitions last week, and has posted time-lapse footage of both of them.

In the first, L.A.’s iconic 6th Street bridge is crunched by big machines while water hoses tamp down the dust, with downtown L.A. glimmering in the background. The footage compresses tw0 days’ work into three minutes, lending the process a jangly, frenetic pace.

In contrast, timelapse of the Oakland Bay Bridge deconstruction is almost meditative. The circa-1936 bridge, already replaced by a new one, has been slowly taken apart over several years. Last week Caltrans removed the first of its trussed segments, lowering it onto two barges over the course of about fourteen hours. Caltrans’ timelapse compresses the work into almost two minutes, turning boats into swirling insects and animating the waters of San Francisco Bay.

The 2,500-ton steel bridge segments are being floated to shore for dismantling and recycling, with some of the material going to artists who applied for it through the Oakland Museum.

Rumor has it there may be a chance to grab a souvenir of the 6th Street bridge.

Melanie Curry

Streetsblog California editor Melanie Curry has been thinking about transportation, and how to improve conditions for bicyclists, since her early days commuting by bike to UCLA long ago. She was Managing Editor at the East Bay Express, and edited Access Magazine for the University of California Transportation Center. She also earned her Masters in City Planning from UC Berkeley.

sixth street viaduct | Streetsblog CA | Streetsblog CAL

Comments Are Temporarily Disabled

Streetsblog is in the process of migrating our commenting system. During this transition, commenting is temporarily unavailable.

Once the migration is complete, you will be able to log back in and will have full access to your comment history. We appreciate your patience and look forward to having you back in the conversation soon.