How This Bridge Is About to Reshape Los Angeles
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 7 ก.ย. 2024
- What can an architect bring to the design of a bridge? In 2012, the City of Los Angeles held a design competition to redesign its 6th Street Viaduct. The original, iconic bridge, which served as the backdrop for dozens of TV shows and films, had deteriorated beyond repair. The winning team included Michael Maltzan Architecture, who helped conceive and design a bridge that does way more than just connect traffic across the LA River. It’s an icon, a place to observe the city, and a neighborhood amenity that provides shade and multiple connection points for bikes and pedestrians. It does all this in addition to being an elegant solution to the complex structural forces at play with a large infrastructural project in an earthquake-prone area. This video explores the design and construction of the bridge, just a couple months prior to its completion.
_Membership_
Join this channel to get access to perks:
/ @stewarthicks
_About the Channel_
Architecture with Stewart is a TH-cam journey exploring architecture’s deep and enduring stories in all their bewildering glory. Weekly videos and occasional live events breakdown a wide range of topics related to the built environment in order to increase their general understanding and advocate their importance in shaping the world we inhabit.
_About Me_
Stewart Hicks is an architectural design educator that leads studios and lecture courses as an Associate Professor in the School of Architecture at the University of Illinois at Chicago. He also serves as an Associate Dean in the College of Architecture, Design, and the Arts and is the co-founder of the practice Design With Company. His work has earned awards such as the Architecture Record Design Vanguard Award or the Young Architect’s Forum Award and has been featured in exhibitions such as the Chicago Architecture Biennial and Design Miami, as well as at the V&A Museum and Tate Modern in London. His writings can be found in the co-authored book Misguided Tactics for Propriety Calibration, published with the Graham Foundation, as well as essays in MONU magazine, the AIA Journal Manifest, Log, bracket, and the guest-edited issue of MAS Context on the topic of character architecture.
_Contact_
FOLLOW me on instagram: @stewart_hicks & @designwithco
Design With Company: designwith.co
University of Illinois at Chicago School of Architecture: arch.uic.edu/
Wow, I did not expect such an impassioned discussion to result from this video! Thank you for that. I wanted to throw in my take and see what you think. There have been quite a few comments and questions regarding systemic problems of unhoused populations as well as the need for proper biking infrastructure and public transportation. These are incredibly important and complex discussions. This video doesn’t really go into that and it’s a bit outside my expertise in architectural design.
It takes SO MANY teams of people to make a project like this happen. The stance presented in this video is that the work of a good architect made this urban infrastructure better than it would have been otherwise. I think that is true.
I don’t think the situation in LA is ideal urbanism and policy. This channel is about architecture though, and there is no question that this bridge is well designed from that point of view. An architect has a limited scope in a project like this, things like traffic patterns and such are the domain of civil engineers. Whether the bridge should serve cars at all - that’s a planning issue. I don’t want to diminish the role of architects here, as I think they’re expertise does make projects like this better. But, not everything is the domain of architects. The end of the video even hints at how bad things can get when architects do control everything.
It seems like many don’t like the idea of this bridge, which I get. My goal was to show how architecture can make a piece of urban infrastructure better than it would have been otherwise. I think this bridge is an example of that. But, maybe there’s no room for half-measures? Thoughts?
As someone whose lived in So Cal since the 70s, I think many of the rational people are jaded by the govt of the city and state. We see homeless and crime running amok. Just this week in Santa Monica for example, the USPS decided they can't deliver to a certain few streets because it's unsafe. And despite the cover-ups, most of us are aware of the horrific violent incidents that are occurring, including the elderly nurse who was beaten to death on the Pico metro station recently.
So having said that, is this a project done with genuine good intentions and strategy in mind? Or is it more likely a glamour/fleece project that is stealing more money from the tax dole, which is going to become largely useless and a complete waste. I tend to lean more towards the latter. My local city does the same exact thing - take heaps of tax dollars for projects that look pretty on opening day and then quickly become overrun by tweakers and crime and become a huge eyesore and things to avoid. So while some of us might seem unreasonably grumpy, this is the reason why.
Is the impact on people within a space, structure, or neighborhood not a part of architectural design?
Even from an architectural standpoint, it just seems solely made to be pretty for cars. There isn't even a barrier to protect the bikes from the cars and no thought has been put into sun or sound protection for pedestrians on this bridge they expect people to walk several miles on.
Most comments I see are about bikes.
It’s Los, not Las.
Can't wait for the first high speed chase through there with a helicopter view of that bridge, it's going to look so elegant.
With any luck it'll be in a new white Ford Bronco.
😂
@Cobra Denn *2022
Keanu Reeves & Sandra Bullock agree 100%..
Speaking of watched blue thunder what a great film.
It should be noted since this bridge opened all the urban architecture problems the designers did not think through. Those arches are nice, but at a traversable slope that people can climb up on and now are doing so. Now they'll have to add barbed wire to them, which will immediately remove any aesthetic the designer was going for. The layout did not consider bicyclist needs, but only as an afterthought. Its become a popular place for street racers to do donuts running over the cones that are supposed to protect cyclist. All the people in charge are dependent on Caltrans decisions which as an agency has an agenda that does not include urban design. This was a beautiful idea, that should not have been built. Architecture is as much if not more about the decisions we choose not to make and why. A bridge should not be wedded to an aesthetic before the problem space is worked through. Stewart I love this channel and bringing attention to this bridge, my point is that someone should think through these things before spending a billion dollars. These were obvious problems that I'm sure were brought up along the way but the people in charge ignored because political decisions had already been made. It says as much about how elected officials govern as it does about bad design.
Beautifully said! I really like how you phrased this comment.
Well said......
That was the point in the video where I thought "well, thats odd", when the concret barrier was between the pedestrians and the cyclists/cars and not between the pedestrian/cyclsist and the cars.
I suggest you stay away…Some of the most ridiculous objections imaginable…
You know what's sick? I was literally about to say basically the exact same thing you did and I don't even live in LA. All that damn money they spent on this stupid thing should have gone into very important things like I don't know maybe dredging projects see why the hell the freaking LA River doesn't even actually flow and hasn't for a long ass time or helping the homeless get away from homelessness or actually something decent but no it's all about pretty! Ha!
Love how the model has hundreds of silhouettes of pedestrians, but not hundreds of silhouettes of cars, despite this bridge obviously only being useful for cars
Obviously? You have a very limited view.
@@themoviedealers A pedestrian friendly bridge would OBVIOUSLY at least have shade? its LA. it gets really hot. What is there even to walk to on that bridge? And do you really believe anyone but homeless people will live under that bridge?
@@nathan___gage Agreed. The best pedestrian bridges have views, parks, meaningful destinations on either end, and places to stop, reflect, dine, or shop along the way. This bridge has almost none of those things. Who wants to spend 20 minutes walk along a car-choked road crossing highways, railroads, and industrial parks? I'm actually not sure who this is supposed to serve. Forgive me for being skeptical that this will transform anything.
@@lzestrara1518 It’s for traffic and cara
@@nathan___gage Totally. I'm not opposed to infrastructure for cars. We need it. But this isn't groundbreaking. It's just... a car bridge with lots of arches at different angles. Shrug.
While I like the architecture of the bridge, I find it hilarious that the architect actually compares two of the most iconic structures in the history of the world, the Eifel Tower overlooking Paris, and the Statue of Liberty overlooking NYC, to his bridge that overlooks a shit industrial section of Los Angeles.
I'm not familiar with the area, do you get a good view of the homeless camps and junkies? ..... all jokes aside, how long after the construction is completed will the homeless take over new pedestrian paths?
@@tetsuonabiki for reals tho i agree with you. I love how the bridge came out. The sunset view from there amazing. I hope the cops take very good inrest in keeping away the homless camps that are going on right now as much as they closed the bridge for the general pop for not behaving, I’m all for it. All that hard work the workers put into it just to get trashed in two weeks sucks balls. Now imagine with tents on the brige or the paths getting up to the bridge will look really disgusting and guarantee smell horrible.
More like the west side of the bridge looks at skid row area and homeless paradise, while the east side looks at just that part of east LA nobody goes to.
Connecting one ghetto to another
Typical self-aggrandizing specialist in mental masturbation.
As an engineer in one of the 3 firms; AECOM,HNTB, WSP that competed for this project. The original RFP asked for a half billion bridge. The loosing competitors tried to adhere to that budget in their proposal and design. Then HNTB put together a rendering not only showing their bridge but of a completely new down town LA skyline. The City Council obviously voted for the HNTB bridge because it showed a dream of a revitalized LA and a billion bridge they claimed was only a half billion dollars. The other two proposals were also nice and less money but these rendering only showed the new bridge, they even showed the graffiti from the LA River from the photos to show the limits of the projects as requested by the RFP. HNTB should have been disqualified and City of LA Council should be ashamed of spending money they didn't have budgeted straight out of the Robert Moses playbook. We got a nice bridge, but at what cost? I can think of a lot of a really nice projects to do with another half billion dollars instead it went into this bridge. There is a lot of wrong with public works procurement and asking City Council Members to have their constituents rank bridges is a really bad way to run a government.
I think it is sometimes very worth it to go over budget to deliver on something genuinely great.
I'm not sure if that bridge is it though...
I hope I'm not wrong but the steps LA has taken on average over the last decade have given me some real hope about the city's long term future despite an expensive bride. The sprawl is bad but the multi-modal interconnectivity of this specific bridge might just lead to economic growth of proportional long term value over it's lifetime. We will see.
Thank you for this. Just saw the bridge for the first time recently.
@@RobinTheBot It's not only about going over budget, it's about having a level playing field during procurement - the losing firms should at least have been given an opportunity to submit a different design, with all the costs involved in the first design being covered by the city.
corruption at its finest. goddamn la city council
Looks like a nice idea, but it's crazy in 2022 Los Angeles still can't just build a piece of infrastructure that benefits people over cars (no dividers between cyclists and traffic on a new project is mad). Hope they add some more protective elements before its done or it'll just be another project only really useful to cars
Check 6:00
@@kookieskookie3729 that divider is for the side walk not the bike lanes. The bikers will still have to ride beside the cars in the road.
I'm glad others noticed this huge design flaw. I got to 6:13 and I had to stop to make my comment, which I see many others have done as well. Good grief!
@@zinc466 bikers have a bad life here in LA too many crazy drivers
Just so unbelievably braid dead, just like how everything else in this city is designed. How simple it would have been to just have the bike lanes within the barrier. Instead there will be multiple avoidable deaths and injuries to cyclists throughout the years
As someone who lives in Little Tokyo, no one in their right mind should walk in that area especially when the sun’s down. If you go just one step past Little Tokyo, it’s a whole another world.
Sad thing is, There is very little Tokyo about Little Tokyo. It has become, in part, a refuge for the Koreans from Korea Town. Crime from other demographics are largely driving the problem.
@@deuswulf6193 "Other demographics"
Nah, just one or two of those demographics.
Don't confuse the poor brain washed idiots with reality mate. LA is a run down poop hole. God loves them. God bless.
@@hellenicboi14 haha facts
even walking on the 7th Street Bridge is risky as f. 1km bridge for "Pedestrians" in LA? What movie have they watched?
3 months later, I think it did make quite a change. Change in the minds of many people moving to LA. This bridge is already closed indefinitely and the city gave it the energy the city bleeds every day. It’s an art form of modern design in a deeply troubled city. It resonates a message to the rest of California and the greater United States that there is a need for change. This bridge galvanized that message perfectly with sideshows, goofy stunts and constant closures only to be flooded with more stunts from the public of LA. So you are right, but to a different perspective!
And for US society as a whole, this isnt a good look. Shows how our leaders are out of touch with their own cities. The priority is the aesthetic over impact. A whole lot of resources, time and talk to accomplish nothing, is the allegory this bridge provides.
I couldn't believe these comments at first, just incredulous, but I googled and yes the bridge is constantly being closed to traffic. Well, OK, one way to get some good out of it might be to make it for pedestrians, cyclists, busses only. Personally I would NEVER have thought it would become such a danger because of misuse.
What a shame.
We spend billions on these reinforced concrete structures, and if they last 50 years we're lucky. Like some other commenters, I think the money needs to be spent on public transportation. Trains and trams can move people much more efficiently than the automobile.
50 years ??? No bro I think that’s like a good 100 if not a couple hundred, look at the bridge of the past, my friend
@@hanu6158 Bridges of the past were built with more durable materials. Most bridges nowadays are built with a 50-year lifespan.
And not destroy infrastructure like cars do.
The bridge is a beautiful concept, but I agree about the priority public transportation should take. I'd think that the bridge could've accommodated part of a small light rail system for instance.
@@Bobrogers99 Not really, the increase in traffic and vehicle weight is responsible for the shorter lifespan.
I live in Lincoln Heights just 10 minutes north of this. I admire the effort to innovate a new network of flowing traffic between DTLA/Art's District and East LA to better transform the infrastructure into something bright and new....but.... because LA doesn't like using their dollars on maintenance in lower income areas, I have a feeling this will be swarmed with homeless tents and criminal turf activity in a matter of months. I hope I'm proven wrong.
You won't be proven wrong. It's a bridge from Boyle Heights to DTLA. Homelessness on one side, gangs on the other.
I agree I grew up in East LA City won’t maintain what they have now. City should pay homeless for picking up trash by the pound.
Yep
I bet the people involved are making bank tho
*Translation: I helped gentrify Lincoln Heights and I’m scared all the locals I displaced are gonna be my neighbors again.*
Great project 😀 but when are designers going to realize that bikes should also be on the other side of that concrete barrier? What chance against 2 tons of steel does a cyclist have?
Bike riders in LA aren’t nice enough to use the sidewalk.
People need to share the roads, we all paid for it so we can all share it.
Cyclists should be banned from public roads
@@johnlocke_1 ??? its public for a reason???
@@anvilm3861 vehicles only
Well, it seems like the locals really love this bridge. It's been closed for 3 nights in a row now because people are doing burnouts and sideshows on it, climbing up it, stopping in the middle of traffic to take stupid selfies... This is why we can't have anything nice anymore.
We really need more trains, spending billions on car infrastructure is almost a waste because it rarely does anything to help congestion and traffic. There’s a well known phenomena where adding lanes to highways doesn’t actually reduce traffic in any meaningful way due to the resulting increase in people using it due to the wider road and traffic basically stabilizes to where it was before. LA is far too reliant on cars and that’s why commuting there is the worst
Agree but this is a bridge replacement, not a road network expansion.
The state known for it's crazy environmentalist and radical leftist has more roads and cars than any other state in America! Nothing but hypocrites! When they leave the state, they take that stupidity with them.
The solution to California's craziness will be a good earthquake.
Well, they are building the bullet train from nowhere to nowhere!
All those crazy Californians will be able to drive to nowhere, hop on the bullet train and be nowhere faster than anyone else in America.
@Emsye You DO realize how abominable the trains here are, yes? Last week, an elderly nurse was beaten to death but a homeless tweaker. The trains are filthy from the homeless riding on them (let alone taking a shit on them).
@@truthseeker6377 and the homeless won't be all over this bridge ? Lol
The fact that the concrete barrier is between pedestrians and the bike lane and not securing each from cars kinda triggers me.
I'm sure bikers will appreciate pedestrians not randomly waking in front of them though.
I was hoping to see some details about that on the project's official website but I didn't find anything.. let's hope common sense prevails, there HAS to be a proper devide between cars and bikes
@@Razumen I can 1000000% guarantee that every cyclist would prefer people accidentally walking in front of them rather than 2 ton metal objects hurdling at 50 mph hitting them.....
Yes it's stupid, that barrier seems massive as if to stop a car from killing pedestrians. However the way it is arranged implies it is only to stop bikes makes it seem hilarious while the bikers themselves are at a lot of risk just makes me think that architects haven't moved on "form over function". Or maybe they just lack common sense and wanted the pretty rail next to pedestrians and thought common concrete slabs as always would protect the bikers which now just make that gorgeous barrier seem absolutely pointless.
Thanks for calling our barrier gorgeous. I don’t get that compliment from inspectors much lol
This didn't quite work out as planned. Who would have guessed the bridge would turn into a giant stage for criminal activity?
There's criminal activity in Boyle Heights? Whoda' thunk it.
The space is designed for it. It's a set of linear paths with few entrances, exists or anywhere to run. Traffic is zipping by fast and because you're high up, you're exposed and all the eyes that would see you are below. The lack of overlook from people living next to the street basically ensures its a great place to get your wallet stolen.
I'm sorry, I really like the bridge design and the architect's supposed desire to unite bikes and pedestrians into the bridge, but the sidewalk seems way too small and the bike entrance looks like an afterthought, especially because there are no bike lanes in the bridge, why make bike ramps if no one will use them? It looks like it will end up being just a bridge for cars that no one will walk on because of the noise and pollution and also no one will cycle on because there is no bike lane at all.
even the stairs look like they were just adapted on the sides after
Am I missing something? I thought it stated in the video that there would be 2 bike lanes.
@@richardhall5489 I tried to find bike lanes in the proposal page, renders and photos, there is no bike lane in the images, only 4 car lanes and a small sidewalk, the only time I found bikes were at the sidewalk, so I think they're doing a "shared lane", which is basically nothing
@@joaquimsilva6081 If there's no bike lanes then why are they talking about bike lanes in the video and how they built on/off ramps for cyclists?
Sidewalks will be 8' to 14' wide. Bike lanes will be 10' wide class iv protected bike lanes. This was on the projects website.
I agree about the noise. I wonder how much use this will get from pedestrians because of it.
Beautiful piece of architecture, but I am a bit weary of the 4 lanes of traffic right next to the bikes and pedestrians. It may be too loud to walk and talk with friends, and the bike lanes don't seem protected (?), leading to it just becoming a car bridge, that may change though. Anyway, hoping for the best!
You're right. I too was worried about the cycle lanes not being protected. It's good to see LA embracing bike culture, but with all the examples available to them they could go further. If the bikes have cars and trucks whizzing past them with no protection then cyclists won't use the lanes.
@@ravenfeeder1892 Yeah I was thinking, instead of a concrete barrier between cyclists and peds, why not between the cyclists and cars?! seems like a huge oversight on the part of the designers. clearly bike infrastructure was an afterthought, no one actually considered what it might be like to bike on the bridge. maybe a cyclist wants to pause and take in a vista, but they can't because there's a concrete barrier blocking them into the roadway. and because its concrete it's not easily reversible. honestly a huge failure of design in that respect.
I completely agree. This bridge doesn't do anything other bridges elsewhere aren't doing already; the only thing that is notable depends on ones viewpoint: it is either an architectural bridge in the US, or it is on a scale of a US highway, which is to say it is utterly gigantic. But honestly, I don't see how anyone can think that pedestrians or cyclists would be excited about having to cycle up several hundred meters every time they want to go to a neighboring community, or be a few meters away from 4+ lanes of highway traffic and all of its exhaust fumes. This looks like a bridge for cars that is trying to check off some boxes to appease accessibility concerns while being an icon like the old one. IMHO, this project went wrong once they started looking at landmarks like the Eiffel Tower and Statue of Liberty to determine its usefulness. That is like looking at a swimming pool to determine the proportions of a new jetliner! How is this bridge lighting its surfaces? Have they considered the annoyance of the neighboring communities in regards to light and noise pollution? How about the weather and its windiness and sunshine; could they perhaps have sheltered cyclists and pedestrians from the elements that can be expected? All in all, it looks huge and impressive, but I feel that is where its positives end.
@@Aviertje mate you we haven’t even seen the finished article, if you’ve considered this then surely a fully fledged team has with all due respect, your prematurely writing it off.
Negative Nellies
I imagine the bridge will create some shelter for thousands of homeless and displaced people. I drove around down near the construction site recently and I couldn't believe the human wreckage scattered all over the area. It looked like something from a post-apocalyptic science fiction film. I'm sure the bridge is going to be beautiful but the decay around it is so profound that the new construction really frames it in bold relief.
Homeless will be under it for sure
Tents going up the stairs, under the bridge, and along the bike path.. this is gonna get ugly
and the city is certainly gonna send the fucking in to beat them up as if the housing crisis that made them homeless wasn't the city's fault in the first place
I go by there on the train often. I work for the railroad. That area has been a blight on society ever since I was a young conductor 24 years ago..... And it's just as bad today.
You can bet when the bridge officially opens the homeless will be moved very quickly
Oh finally! Another even more expensive road bridge what a revolutionary concept, I am sure this is the extra lane that will finally fix the problems with LA traffic
I like the video and the bridges, but why do the bike paths have to be exposed to the wreckless American traffic and are not allowed to be protected by the concrete barrier?
The video emphasis the collaboration between city planning and architecture yet it should emphasis more the liveable city promoted by Not Just Bikes and how the bridges could serve as a connection of walkable neighborhoods.
@@ZRodTW While all that sounds very nice, city planning is not all that cut and dry.
Exactly how I felt watching this, so much talk of making it accesible to pedestrians and cyclists, but it seems an awful place right beside the traffic, noise pollution etc.
This bridge is horrible if you have a disability i bet, as majority of the entrances are just stairs.
@@kalrnlo except for the bike paths.
cyclists are traffic and should be considered as such, they can be just as wreckless. having pedestrians separated makes the most sense, they're the most vulnerable user of the bridge.
Would have been cool to hear a bit about the vision for the neighborhood below and around the bridge; it looks like an industrial warehouse zone at the moment, so not sure how much those greenspaces (or the ramps connecting them to the bridge) will get used. Also, with zero shade, plantings, or screening from traffic, walking along this bridge as a pedestrian will likely not be pleasant :(
The neighborhood that is east of the river and west of Boyle Heights is definitely industrial/warehouse zone as you describe. It was largely empty until the last decade. There are now multiple large movie studios that have built large facilities here, and a steady flow of galleries/art stuff that comes in and out. I think many of these galleries shuttered during the pandemic.
West of the river is also a warehouse district, but is much more similar to Williamsburg than an actual industrial zone. The Arts District is very much a residential neighborhood, with new housing projects being built all the time.
The bridge's eastern terminus is Boyle Heights, which is also very much a residential neighborhood.
Just THAT section of Boyle Heights looks like that. And even so there are new businesses popping up in warehouse fashion/aesthetic, like cafés. The bridge isn’t much about walking for fun but instead connects DTLA/art district to Boyle Heights which can benefit both communities since both are growing. It makes commute easier especially since Little Tokyo is really popular right now and it’s the neighborhood next to the Arts District. Or it can worsen the gentrification we are already experiencing here at Boyle Heights. We shall see with time.
@@ZRodTW Fewer lanes would be a nightmare for traffic, and there's probably not nearly enough room for a tram. I understand it caters to cars but in a way catering to cars is a good thing since more efficient roadways can get people to where they're going faster and not be stuck idling and polluting.
theyre for the homeless
They are planning some parks and open spaces under the bridge, And possible space for a light rail connection under
This is a glorified American road. Beautiful visually, yes, but even the bike lanes seem like gutters, not proper protected lanes (with concrete dividers "protecting" bikers from pedestrians instead of 2-tonne vehicles). And who will actually walk for 1km along 4 lanes of traffick? And, of course, no lanes for public transport.
I do see what you are saying here. But I still like how it looks...
What, do you not walk? There are plenty of long ass bridges across the Danube and people in Europe walk across them all the time. Additionally, why do buses need their own lanes? They drive on the road just like cars do. If there was a tram line there I could see why they'd give it it's own lane but buses don't need one, that's kind of the point of a bus. I do see your point about the bike lanes though, they should be more integrated with the pedestrian sidewalks and less with the road.
@@CockatooDude devoted bus lanes are used all the time, even here in the US. They're actually very useful, especially for cutting transit times for mass transit. Very efficient.
@@feedayeen I'm not against buses, but I'm just saying that in my experience, the only place I've seen dedicated bus lanes is in the US. In Europe I don't recall seeing them. And it's kind of ironic because despite that it's almost as fast (or sometimes faster) taking the bus to get somewhere as it is taking a car, at least in Budapest.
@@CockatooDude not sure about Budapest, but many western and northern european cities definitely have bus/taxi lanes. I've seen them at least in the uk, spain, france, finland and estonia 🤔
Architectural Folly... "How This Bridge Is About to Reshape Los Angeles" - The title perfectly sums up how out of touch architects can be. A bridge to nowhere would be more apt. I don't even live in LA but even as an outsider I can see the abject folly in this project and going by the comments it seems that’s exactly how it’s turned out. A colossal overspend on what can only be seen as a vanity project. The archetypal Folly in the classical architectural sense.
I feel that actually walking on the bridge would be very uncomfortable, given that there's no shade and that there's 4 car lanes right next to you
Car culture alienates people from the city
Because it’s a more car focused bridge than people
@@LaSombraa Cars shouldn't matter more than people. American priorities are straight up crap.
San Fran, NY and other main cities disagree
@@quanta2k Pfft. People ride in cars to go everywhere they want to go. I don't want to walk like some hunter-gatherer. Cars or for people.
With the current homeless population here, I can only imagine how little 'pedestrian traffic' and biker traffic this will be used for. Especially with this bridge in such close proximity to Skid Row, I can see the sidewalks and bike lanes being turned into Tent Blvd. Maybe I'm wrong, but I can see this space being at least plagued with drunk/high/mentally ill homeless people, similar to MacArthur Park. This is what makes public transit here a huge stumbling block as well, especially after 8:00 PM.
Thankfully just like they closed it and kicked all the homeless out they'll probably not let any homeless on the parks
Exactly my thoughts. The homeless will see it as a new place to live. LA is ruined.
@@eddiegarcia1560 *oh please. Calm down you sound like you’re hysterical*
@@MaxOakland not as hysterical as the, let's say, mentally health challenged that litter the streets. Along with human waste and needles. California is a failed state.
Yup hobos new home
Not at all convinced by the flowery archispeak going on. It’s an alienating overpass, the very thing most cities are trying to dismantle. It removes pedestrians from the neighbourhood. It will create a void underneath, and pedestrians will not embrace that long, high, noisy walk. Cyclists are not gonna like committing to a long overpass disconnected to the surface, and would prefer to ride to the edge of the river and take a 3 metre wide dedicated cycle/pedestrian bridge to make the crossing. The stairs and the cycle ramps reek of afterthought to placate an ordinance.
It stole the motif of arches and repeated it. That’s about the extent of the excitement it generates. The original bridge probably could have been replaced at a fraction of the cost. I would have done that, and spent the money elsewhere.
And expensive
This area actually deserves the investment in infrastructure precisely because its been neglected. The original bridge was a very much loved piece of architectural history in LA.
Also they are adding green spaces under and around the bridge. Altogether with the Arts District nearby, its not so dissimilar to what was done in the DUMBO area of Brooklyn transforming a former derelict area under a bridge into one full of green spaces and restaurants and cafes.
what pedestrians are walking through a river and over a whole bunch of train tracks in a highly industrial district???? this is L.A.not New York
@@IAMYUNGGAF It better have its own police substation. The gangs will have turf wars on day one.
In short,it will be just another bridge that the homeless can sleep under🙁
There are so many things Michael Maltzan says that are ridiculous (man also needs someone to tell him to cut on the fluff in his words sheeeeesh). Let me go through a few with you. ...ahem...
3:55 - Says it's about more than crossing a river: it's about weaving the city together. Give me a break it's literally meant to bypass a shitty part of town.
7:30 - "the new bridge was meant to be an icon of the city" --- proceeds to compare the bridge to Griffith Observatory, the Eiffel Tower, and the Statue of Liberty with almost no true architectural similarities. The commonality? "Every one of them was in fact actually an observatory that you went into...and you got to see out and see the city around you" You can't be serious making these comparisons.
8:00 - "I think that's one of the roles that the bridge is going to play in that the arches play that it's just as important to be on the bridge and to see and observe the city and to in a way maybe even dream a little bit about how the city is evolving, what it's going to become, what its history has been, but what its future actually looks like". IRL it's just another concrete behemoth that's a little cool but does nothing to inspire whatever garbage was just quoted above.
9:18 - "You get a sense of how it's knitting the city together three-dimensionally not just in plan but truly in three dimensions on the site. Most people think about the experience on the deck but that's only half of the bridge and the experience of the bridge. The other half is everything below the deck and that's where so much community activity is going to take place, so much of a connection to the different neighborhoods." Idk how you say these words with a straight face. Tell me how you're planning on welcoming me to the experience of being stabbed in an unmarked warehouse underneath your bridge.
Imagine if LA actually built useful infrastructure like affordable housing or public transport...
They need to make it easier to go on public transport too, it should not take police an hour to get to a scene because of traffic.
United nations bots wanting public transport and 15 min cities 🤡
It’s done in Europe. Maybe the US could put down their ego and learn a thing or two from their neighbors overseas 😉
@@Ghostalking That's funny, I live in Europe and everyones ready to riot over the idea of 15 minute cities...
Your comment is hilarious and heartbreaking at the same time.
I agree with most commenters here, I think putting emphasis on bikes would be way better idea for futuristic, practical and livable city, but having a bigger bike network connected to the bridge is the real goal
This is a car city. Bikes will always be the annoyingly loud minority
Except that 99% of human commuters would rather drive than pedal a bike.
This comment is a perfect example of how to say "I dont live in LA" without saying "I don't live in LA". In LA, bikes are solely leisure/ excercise devices. The city is wayyyy to big to support bikes. Even SF is on the large size and that is still much more bikeable than LA.
L.A wasn't made for bikes and cars. 1 or the other. Plus some bicyclist don't respect street signs, drivers and lights
@@cn1878 Exactly, nobody is going to bike that far in 108 degree heat. Except a very small and crazy minority of the population.
Not to mention the probability of getting mugged in the majority of LA if you were on a bike.
They should’ve made room for future rail construction on the bridge. We need to start moving in the direction of mass transit as well as vehicle traffic. If future projects can coalesce both, I believe traffic would be greatly reduce thanks to transit convenience.
The rail bridge is less than 0.5 miles north. Thankfully they’re laying more track and building new stations
They have light rail and busses. La is too spread out to make use of anything else
HUH? Google is ur friend…The Rail System is there on 1st Street. Google
@@sickheadache9903 lol
@@scootersonlyrepair6773 Look at Tokyo on transit mode on your phone’s map
Are they still going to make a green space with the LA river under the bridge? I remember seeing that in the plans when it was first approved. Be cool to see some wildlife come back and not just the concrete waterway.
There's no rain for greenspace
@@nicksGLI well it's not an ephemeral river. Always running a little. It's got fish and a few shopping carts washing down it 300 and 65 days a year. Would be cool to see some green.
@@Chonskins9144 sure, but SoCal needs to get serious about the drought that the rest of CA has been subsidizing for years just so everyone down there can have pools and green grass and i can only water my half dead yard twice a week. So I could care less about their greenspace for the sake of greenspace.
@@nicksGLI I feel ya. We definitely need a shit ton more local water reclamation projects and can't just pump water from 1000 miles away. It's fucking crazy. But the LA river could be something real special not just a drainage ditch to the ocean. But instead of focusing on water we build a train to nowhere. Anyways stay positive and keep blasting them turns at Laguna seca. 🤙
I was pleasantly surprised that they did start letting the river grow wild in some corners of LA. Knowing it all my life as a concrete wash, it was really nice to see and experience. However, the main thing I came away with was that it was still a dirty place full of crackheads, but those crackheads had a nicer environment to look at. In a funny way, the vagrant living in the sewer drain now has a nicer view than the people living in the apartments above him. I'm hoping they keep the green river thing going, but I have very little faith in our government to make these projects last longterm
I work in rebar fabricator shop and we’ve been doing this project for a few years now shipping out all types of columns, radial and bent bars. A ton of special bent shapes. Work is super heavy here in California for us fabricators. Especially projects out in LA. But It’s pretty cool that I get to say “I helped build that bridge.”
Go out and build it and you can say what you’re trying to :)
@@garfishyman You obviously don’t know understand the role of fabricators have in these projects. Don’t comment on something you don’t have knowledge on.
I moved out of L.A. years ago, I grew up in east L.A. and looking forward to seeing this bridge during my next visit. I feel it will only be a matter of time before the area under the bridge becomes a new tent city. I hope the plans to make the below area a public space does work.
Are you against truly affordable housing?
Homeless people will love it
at least the homeless won't get run over
@@westrnite yes I'm against my tax dollars going towards shanty towns
@Miss Cindy You look like an adorable new born baby 👶 ☺
I'm glad the commenters are coming down on this design. Imagine walking along this and choking on fumes. Imagine being a bicyclist dodging cars trying not to die. I'm sure the view will be very nice while you're stuck in rush hour traffic.
Unhoused people are going to stay under this bridge for shelter. How much state violence will they have to endure under this pretty white concrete?
As others have said Los Angeles needs to spend on trains and buses. It needs to make living in and around the city more affordable. It doesn't need a pretty bow on top of the climate collapse we're all hurtling towards.
LA needs to be overhauled into a patchwork of walkable neighborhoods connected by transit, with tree cover and public places to hang out where no one has to buy anything. Abolish landlording - turn all the rentals into condos and houses people can own, and control the costs. Fill the city with streetcar lines. Make local streets narrower. Replace low-intensity intersections with small roundabouts, put planters and occasionally fountains in the middle of them. Get rid of zoning, let there be local cafes and pubs mixed in among houses. Grow plants and gardens on the roofs of buildings. Make sure everyone lives near a market and has time to cook. Set price controls on fresh produce and grains. Do all this on top of deeper reforms to society. Require workplace democracy and worker ownership of businesses. Widespread addiction support. Reduce the workweek so people have time to participate in community life (which might also combat addiction, see the Rat Park experiment).
Have you been on the trains and busses? They are not the solution, they only help spread the problem, including but not limited to crime and the mentally insane. Honestly people are more likely to get shot or assaulted than be hit by a car over there.
@@kevinmathewson4272 You just described gentrification, and you are going to get so much flak you'll get shot down from being called racist in any LA city meeting.
@@deuswulf6193 your username is a bit of a dog whistle there buddy. Public transit needs investment to become safer as well as more regular and attractive. The crime and "mental insanity" needs public funds to address as well, not more state violence.
@@assert_justice3783 "dog whistle" is just part of your confirmation bias based on your own made up assumptions. Using words like that seriously is why modern political rhetoric is often based around autosuggestion and propaganda.
Just as bankers don't work to get people out of debt, and drug dealers don't work to get people off drugs, the politicians in these cities and the very structure they are built off of, will not work to solve the very problems they need to campaign on. It just won't happen. They would rather things get worse.
Aristotle, the father of logic, explains that it is the despots who rely on multi-ethnic societies as they can pit groups against each other in order to retain their power. They benefit from the opposite of unity and a functioning society. Organized crime, which exists as part of the city's power structure, can get away with a lot more wealth transfer when these problems exist.
Expanding public transportation is only going to work if the people themselves are part of a high trust society (Japan is an good example of this). US cities are the opposite of that and it only compounds the problem. This is just common sense.
On that note, some subway stations were removing or hiding security footage in order to give the impression of less crime, and demographic conflict. There is no way this is going to work when such mindsets are part of what drive our city planning.
When I saw the design of the bridge, especially the STAIRS, all I could think of was the accessibility. Yes there's a spiral but that is a LONG spiral for someone in a wheel chair or other mobility aide to traverse. If you were to straighten that out, it would be SO LONG and all of it at an incline. Just seems like a missed opportunity
this bridge is for cars, the other elements are just greenwashing
all that money could've been spent on public transit and it would also reduce traffic
A missed opportunity for what? An elevator that would be perpetually out of order and/or used as a restroom by the homeless? Anyway, you have to keep the neighborhood in mind. There aren't many people longing to take a stroll on the bridge since the bridge stretches over a gritty, industrial part of the city, a freeway, train tracks, and a concrete river.
@@theotheleo6830 it is a missed opportunity to have a human cannon that launches people into a net up top.
Yea that's a mess
One reason it's nice to observe Paris from the Eifel tower is that you aren't standing next to 4 lanes of high speed car traffic.
Beautiful bridge but I really cant believe that the public area underneath it will be activated as much as the architect envisions.
exactly, the city is already plagued with homelessness and very little is being done. i can only imagine the monumental structures the homeless will build under it to protect themselves
Yeah, chances are, this will sadly become the longest tent city in the world.
it will be a homeless camp and drug dealer hangout.
Meanwhile in Texas, Abbot wants to finish the wall and close the border for stupid reasons.
@@antoniomartinez6722 to slow the flow of drugs and illegals flooding in is not a stupid reason.
Being an LA native Im so excited for the new bridge. Now knowing this side of it, I’m even more excited.
I thought I read a report a few years ago that studied the raised road ways erected in cities over the years. They concluded the real estate under and around the raised roads experienced a significant decline in value. On the other hand, they provide covered areas for homeless people to camp.
The first step to underworld cities
camp underneath a freeway or next to your home? This sounds like the answer
@@jefferyhellerjh They already exist in Las Vegas.
YUP
@@darrinhartford Yes, I stand corrected.
JUST 1 MORE LANE AND TRAFFIC WILL BE FIXED, JUST ONE MORE LANE GUYS THIS TIME ITS ON A BRIDGE ITLL FIX IT JUST ONE MORE-
the architect that's talking in this video seems like a really good person… I've lived in places where highways cut communities in half and its ugly… I've driven on massive eight lane highways and thought to myself how much I disliked everything about it. At least he's thinking in the design of the bridge about the human factor. Most American cities this absolutely doesn't even exist. They're just machine cities sterile ugly and violent
Calgary. Ugliest place in North America? Quite possibly.
@@ColtraneTaylor why do you say that I'm curious ?
@@9teen9Dee You'd have to be there I think. Take things in at street level. But consider a city where there are hardly any trees, a prairie. Even less people around than other cities. Etc etc. It was also featured in a documentary about walkable cities.
He has a history of designing transitional housing buildings for the unhooked population - pro Bono - he’s definitely a good egg, 👍🏼
Stewart, I’d love if you made a video breaking down the costs of construction, for example, why this bridge costs half a billion dollars.
It's a kilometer long concrete monstrosity, built in L.A during a Pandemic, and the beginning of a war. I can see how costs went up.
The reason it was expensive is because it was replacing a very historic bridge that was torn down due to earthquake code issues.
They are replacing a piece of infrastructure that was already loved locally in the area. Also its connecting the up and coming Arts District of downtown LA once again with the gentrifying Boyle Heights area.
This entire area was in dire need of some TLC. I fully approve the other infrastructure and aesthetic improvements a bridge like this can bring. There's already alloted green park space along the bridge length, not unlike what DUMBO is in Brooklyn.
Bribing the local regulators to get permits done timely and fighting frivolous lawsuits aren't cheap.
More half a billion... 1. Union wages, 2. Regulations, 3. Flawed bidding process, 4. Insurance/legal costs
Honestly $500M seems fair or even a low price. Did you see the size of the arches? And there are 20 of them. It's not purely new construction; it's taking place in a previously developed area. The amount concrete used probably would've justified building a plant on site to make it - thousands and thousands of yards of it. $150/yd is the going rate for high PSI concrete like this in LA, perhaps even more. Wikipedia states that the old bridge had 48,000 yards of concrete hauled away from it during construction. The new bridge obviously has thousands of yards more. Hundreds, maybe thousands of dump truck loads of demo. Hundreds of pieces of heavy equipment and their operators, engineers, traffic control, security, safety, foremen - nobody is going to work for free. This isn't the Hoover Dam but at least at Hoover Dam there's nothing else going on except the construction.
forever going to miss the old historic 6th street bridge..
I hear that!
Yeah dude, what LA really needed to do was a better public transit
I was having this discussion with some friends .. we were discussing time .. and how things are relative to time .. my argument was that in another 100 yrs from now .. when they are taking down this new bridge .. someone else will say how they will miss this "historical" bridge. It's funny how we feel so tied to something that did not exist previously and will be eventually replaced in the future. Just a thought 😁
Congrats Maltzen on designing the prettiest drag strip and sideshow arena in LA, I'm sure those communities will at last come together, once they hop the temporary fences
Maybe it’s an European thing, but in my perception nearly every bigger bridge is a landmark, many are very sculptural and bridges are among the most extreme, consistent examples of architecture. Think of many of the German autobahn bridges, the Erasmus Bridge in Rotterdam and the Amsterdam Python Bridge, the bridges by Santiago Calatrava or Zaha Hadid and last but not least of the seemingly simple, but superbly detailed Ushibuka Haiya bridge by Renzo Piano.
Seen in this light, the 6th Street Viaduct has a nice design approach, but falls a little bit short in its implementation. Underneath it, there is precisely no urban space, but a dark residual space with a rather ugly "ceiling", which also separates rather than connects.
The plan was to build green spaces, parks, etc. under it.
The old bridge this replaced had none of this.
Once completed I think we'll have a better idea--maybe in a year or two.
Missed you last week, but seeing this it’s easy to see you were otherwise occupied. It’s an amazing bridge, given how divisive the politics of urban planning can be in large cities it’s sort of amazing that an architects vision could be realized like this.
Yeah, it was difficult not putting out a video last week. But all this took a lot of arranging. A video per week when I have other duties is a difficult pace to maintain. I really appreciate all your thoughts and engagement. This bridge is pretty remarkable, not sure it's even conveyed properly in video...
@@stewarthicks it’s hard for those of us out in TH-cam land to remember that you actually have a day job.🙂
+1, so worth the wait.
Waiting for NotJustBikes video about this
Videos like this give me hope that our cities have realized that to create better cities they need to move away from cars. And build structures that focus on walking, bikes, and public transportation. I’m still hoping that America eventually starts creating a bullet train network.
Bullet trains aren't for short journeys at that speed. They're needed though.
@@ColtraneTaylor well yeah we need small stuff too. But there needs to be things that connect cities so that there is less car traffic between them. Like LA to San Diego, or LA to Vegas.
@@AidanS99 oh man if we had some fast bullet train or transport to sandiego i be using that often to visit over there....otherwise 2 hrs is annoying drive
Human-facing infrastructure is unrelated to mega-structures because humans aren't going to walk 7 miles through a tunnel to get to where they want.
under the Trump administration they were trying to defund HSR. that dummy Trump set us back at least 10 years
The 20 arches all isolated on dynamic damping systems is very impressive structurally. The simplification of the arches landing together instead of past each other simplified it beautifully. Great design in my opinion, just hope it brings prosperity to the area.
Paint Them McDonalds Yellow…🤭🥴😜🤔
Now if the corrupt politicians don't embezzle all funds it will be as cool as that last one they never finished.
it didnt :/
hope in one hand
It's really heartening to hear the people in charge of city infrastructure projects, putting so much thought into creating livable city spaces! I notice that the biking and walking infrastructure appear to be nearly identical to the Hennepin Avenue Bridge in Minneapolis, if not worse for the bikers because of the concrete barrier trapping them at car level. If that's the case, I'm uncertain whether this bridge will be as much of multiculture as hoped.
Car based development and liveable city spaces pick one.
I checked, and it appears the bicycle lanes will be separated from car traffic by flexible posts, which means it's not fit for purpose. The spiral ramp is also apparently for both bikes and pedestrians, which is also not a good decision. The pedestrian capabilities are better, in that there's an actual barrier, but I'm dubious about the number of stairs involved. In short, L.A. is going to L.A., and is going to create a nearly half-billion piece of infrastructure that exists exclusively for people in cars.
Excellent video! I especially appreciated the architect's talk of the view *from* the bridge, as well as views *of* the bridge from ground level. I remember the first time I walked across the Brooklyn Bridge when I was in my early teens. What really struck me was not just the view but also the contrast in scale. In the late 1960s the lower east side of Manhattan was still a low-rise community of four-story tenements, as it was when the Brooklyn Bridge was built. Against this background the ramps of the bridge sailed hundreds of feet above the rooftops before reaching the first tower. Even the granite blocks of the towers were gargantuan -- like the bridge was built for a race of giants while the streets and buildings below were built for lilliputians. It is an example of superb engineering married to superb architecture!
You paint a beautiful picture with words!
@@stewarthicks Thank you!
If they had thought of making it a suspended park like the old subway line in NYC that is now the HighLine park (absolutely beautiful one of my favorite places you actually walk among and through the buildings with trees, benches and grass) in downtown Manhattan) that wouldve provided pride, good PR for public health and environmental debates, and possibly a reason to improve the area.
Lets be honest, LA the city wastes its good weather because public spaces for outdoor activity are few
and not well maintained. Theres not a lot to enjoy in LA in ‘22 in terms of public spaces, u really have to drive away from the city to enjoy nice beaches, clean hiking trails, better dog parks, safer/cleaner public parks. The city has a reputation for outdoor lifestyle but only the affluent areas back that up.
Sucks to see a build that looks really nice and well design get vandalized so fast
Nothing last In Los Angeles
Itll be cleaned constantly i imagine. Its going to be in every car commercial for the next 20 years
Vandalized? It adds color to the city.
I wouldnt be surprised if they already tagged it up. If theres somewhere new to spray they will.
New place for bums to sleep
To be honest, the last thing this city needs is more road. Some try to justify it by saying it's just a bridge replacement and not an expansion. But this is still hundreds of millions of dollars spent which will further add congestion in the long run. We need better public transit, full stop.
That's already happening. Los Angeles today has the 3rd most extensive public rail transit system in the U.S. when you add Metro's subway and light rail lines and Metrolink's commuter lines. The construction is ongoing to expand all of these. LAX will have a people mover connected to public rail transit next year.
The light rail Gold Line already goes from downtown LA to Boyle Heights.
Just what people look forward to in life- communal transportation. Packed into hot, smelly, cramped pods with strangers and operating on somebody else's schedule. We need more cars and better roadways to more efficiently move them along.
@@tyharris9994 Newsflash, not everyone owns a car, or able to afford one to be able to travel around this giant ass city. Just because you don't need it doesn't mean it is not a necessity
Why do you think we HAVE public transportation in the first place ? Lmfao
Things architects say:
Underneath the bridge will feature “Community activity”… yeah right. There will be a homeless supercamp under that before the paint is dry.
It even looks like a series of speed bumps. How forward thinking this architect was.
People walking on it? He must be kidding. Sure sometimes it will happen. But very few will use it to actually walk from A to B unless they have to. Architects have the ridiculous irreality to paint the surroundings of their objtect to be bustling with activity / people and a bright summer setting. While in reality it's windy, cold, hard, uninviting building that doesn't invite any pedestrians to walk over it. Where you will feel the exhaust fumes enter your lungs, while the car noise hinders any normal conversation. The height of the stairs are a deterrence in itself. And the accesability for the dissabled looks to be non existend.
I shall answer the titel in this comment: "this is what happens when a architect designs a bridge": A bridge with a lot of hokum.
People that need to buy drugs will walk on it.
Do you want it to have no provisions for pedestrians? You have to plan for 50 years into the future with infrastructure like this
Dude it's LA, the weather is generally quite nice there. Agree with the general sentiment though. The Dutch are just lightyears ahead and this bridge, while nice on paper, is going to be a white elephant if you don't take into account the lessons the Dutch have learned.
It all depends on what's in the area the bridge passes over. If it has some viable commercial attraction in addition to the park, a lot of people from Boyle Heights will walk it. But if they're just going downtown, they'll probably get on one of the buses that uses the bridge.
@@nevermindful In a way it would have been better to build a train or a bus lane to take people over it.
This structure can be easily restriped for two traffic lanes, two breakdown lanes and two bicycle lanes. Restriping it to two traffic lanes will automatically slow traffic and make the environment much quieter and more conducive to cycling, walking, and even skateboarding.
Oh, we got ourselves a a traffic engineer now? Pffft okay bud. 🙃
.
.
.
.
.
Just kidding, you're definitely more intelligent than the idiots that run LA. 🤣
Las Angeles is not a biking city. It's to large and spread out. LA is more of a metro area than a city. I'd say people would use public transit before bikes (mainly due to safety). But LA gets all the ships from China, meaning a lot of the workforce is working in warehouses and other freight related industries and the port is around 30 miles/ 48KM away from downtown. So biking isn't really an option unless they want to spend 2 hours minimum one way biking.
@@LeeeroyJenkins It's not an either/or proposition. Many people take their bikes on public transit and use the bike to cover the "last mile".
The point of the traffic lanes is to move people quickly and efficiently from one point to another not to intentionally slow them down and create traffic jams. City planners who think like you should be pilloried and publicly flogged.
@@tyharris9994 - As this is not a 70 MPH design speed road, 10 foot lanes are appropriate and will naturally reduce the speed to around 40 MPH. Moreover, a road of smooth-flowing traffic going 40 MPH will move much MORE traffic than smooth-flowing traffic going 70 MPH or more. This is basic Transportation Engineering I.
Bridges can be hit and miss when it comes to the pedestrian experience. Very frequently you’re drawn to the idea of crossing by foot, but very relieved to get off the noisy damned thing at the other end. The underside of bridges is however often a sublime place: quiet, still, cool. For the best of both worlds, take a look at the Woronora River Bridge walkway, a wooden deck suspended below the roadway. Spectacular views, sheltered, and an architectural treat.
The idea of separating pedestrians by level sounds quite intriguing, especially if it means being able to get out of the sun for a bit.
Yes! That's a much better idea for a functional and safe pedestrian bridge. This thing in the video is just more of the same.
If I lived there and someone literally built a bridge over my house I would feel like I live in a dystopia. Literally getting built over so a bunch of cars spend less time in traffic literally living under Midgar
Sadly, in major American cities the underside of bridges is where the dystopian anarchy of homeless encampments takes place.- which is what will happen here.
Just another lane, just one more, I swear this one more lane will resolve traffic.
4 lanes of traffic is just enough
It seems both easier and safer for a pedestrian or biker to drop down to the river bottom and climb out again than rise and ride the deck.
And I couldn't help but notice that the art is full of yuppies in endless green, while the video is of a warehouse district directly exposed to the sound of a floating traffic jam.
We shouldn't be celebrating fundamental dishonesty.
I love art that is functional, and incorporating the supports as a stairway is functional art. LED lighting on the bridge would look amazing at night and be functional.
LA native here. I think a lot of the commenters miss that the bridge connects a neighborhood, (Boyle Heights [east la], with the downtown side of LA. It really is a neighborhood and is not going to change into anything else very soon. The other side is mostly industrial, and is somewhat morphing, but for longer than much of LA, has been deteriorating.
I love walking around my neighborhood on a 3ft wide sidewalk next to a 4 lane highway.
@@Stetrain that’s her point no one will be doing that. In LA we really don’t walk anywhere and if we do we know we’re the minority so we don’t need large walking paths like other cities might
I'll add that few want to walk/bike into Boyle Heights unless they absolutely must. It is a poor, dilapidated gang-infested neighborhood.
@@caytieee god forbid we lead the change.
@@caytieee Maybe the lack of human-centric design of spaces and streets is part of the reason nobody walks anywhere.
I’ve never been to Los Angeles or really looked at it on the map, but from the thumbnail with my experience in Grandtheft auto I think I know exactly where this bridge is gonna be
Quick. Someone call Real Civil Engineer. Matt, this videos for you!
RCE is not happy about this one. RCE is not happy about Stuart’s channel.
One of my best experience in New York was walking across the Brooklyn Bridge and it was even in January (luckily it was a very nice day weather wise). I had already been to most of the tourist sites but had never done this & hadn’t expected it to be such a great experience.
Same.
Would anybody want to walk there? What are road speeds and road noise going to be like?
Quieter than the gunshots
I wanna know if it’s just gonna be a railing on the sides or if there’s going to be any kind of wire barrier? It’s best to build with you know what in mind when it comes to bridge designs
I just seen this the other day. 588 million. I was on my way to deliver goods to people on skid row. I guess the bridge is more important than the problem on the row
ikr like solve that problem first then make a bridge
Interesting video. I love the peeking behind the curtains of architecture you let us do in each video. This bridge looks pretty damn cool.
Having said that a couple of questions:
1. why weren't the bike lanes merged with the pedestrian lanes so both modes of softer and slower traffic would be more protected from automotive traffic?
2. Pedestrian access seems limited to stairs only. I feel part of the intent of the bridge is as an observatory space or maybe even a tourist kind of space. How do people in wheelchairs or parents with kids in strollers etc. access the pedestrian walkways?
I was thinking the exact same thing. Seems like a nightmare for accessibility.
Now tell me… who the hell is Gonna walk 3500 ft in LA weather?
Also LA got over their homeless people situation. Literally they built a bridge over it
You say LA weather as if it's bad, when LA has the best climate on Earth.
wdym LA weather?? we got really good weather here
@@abagaba3723 ik I was talking about like the heat and stuff
i feel like the whole homeless situation is more of a problem in that area....but hey cover it up with a bridge they said
New home for the hobos
I can't believe this thing is actually about to be finished. It looked like nothing at all had been done to it for like five years between 2018 and now and then bam it's moving along again
Once this opens, who wants to bet on how fast it will take for there to be tents all along that walkway? Also how long before someone uses the bridge as their personal concrete canvas?
I was thinking the same.
I work downtown. I give it a week. That bike ramp that runs under the bridge is the perfect homeless encampment.
This screams 1960 planning to me. Let's make space for the car, doesn't matter what's in the way. Peaple can just klimb the stairs and get some nice exhaust filled air, while they enjoy the view that our bridge is blocking.
It looks nice as a model but must be hell to live close to. Especially if you still remember all that was torn down to build it.
Man that bridge has been in the work for years and even after it opens I can already see it being under renovation
Now that the bridge is finished, it’s beautiful to see. I will say the concrete arches seem to have lots of irregularities in color and texture, due to the nature of concrete in general. But it does look like they are support structures in a building waiting to be covered in steel or glass, they look a bit unfinished and I think if they were smooth and uniform in texture like the renderings, it would look nicer. Wondering if they will do something to address that, but either way it’s an amazing bridge and a great cultural and transportation link.
The LA river masterplan would be a lovely companion piece to this. It'd be interesting to see your coverage of it.
Can't wait to see this completed. Nice video! Although I do love bridges with bike paths on them this one looks like it could have done more for accessibility and safety for peds and bikes. That said it is also Los Angeles. There are many cool things in L.A. but they never seem to want to give up on their love of cars. I think this will be a fun bridge to bike over and experience if you enjoy biking. But it gets hot - I once walked 21 miles in a day in Los Angeles during a long day of interviews and film shoots. It was in the mid-80s in the afternoon and found myself taking breaks in the shade whenever I could. Don't see much of an opportunity for shade on this bridge.
the only people on bikes on this bridge are homeless people and the occasional hipster that accidently crossed the river because he/she got lost. There's a bridge two blocks north, and a bridge two blocks south. This project is a huge waste of money that the politicians get to pat themselves and the contractors they hooked up on the backs for. This single bridge cost HALF A BILLION DOLLARS. Shame on Los Angeles.
Saw this when I went to a wedding near the arts district. It’s so huge and beautiful.
Considering the lawlessness of LA, I'm amazed they designed this with the arches so accessible for people climb on them. Not very safe. LA is a mess.
I'm a little worried that the concrete barrier is on the wrong side of the bike lane. The bikes and pedestrians should be separated from the cars, not the pedestrians separated from the bikes and cars.
If you do that then you have pedestrians (tourists) that will walk into the bike lane, but with the way it is now you're also going to have cyclists in the middle of the street and not using the bike line - maybe the bike lane should be separated from both the street and the sidewalk
Having lived in LA for 20 years, missing the old bridge, and how long this thing is taking to build… it looks very, very underwhelming
I remember being at the Suicidal Tendencies “Mike Muir Mural” show. We were told that the bridge would overlook the mural amongst other things. I was 16 (21 now) at the time and overtime I’ve watched the bridge being slowly built. I can’t wait to experience LA while driving via this bridge :,)
Only way you can do that is if you go the day it's opened to the public. Day two on out it's gonna have more tents than cars on it.
@@rcalv25 “californiaa super cool to the homeless… californ-ya-ya”
I did not see any disabled access to the walkways. I also question why people would want to use the walkways, the views seem to be of the rooftops of an industrial area, and what pleasure would there be with traffic so close causing both noise and air pollution?
As a person who lives near the bridge, I wish they kept the original bridge look. The rest of the bridges in the area will have the 20’s Aesthetic. It will stick out like a sore thumb.
In one year you won’t even notice the new bridge.
maybe they will rebuild the others as well? one by one
It's an instant icon and it has lots of nice arches. I think it's an improvement.
The rest of the bridges are going to need to be rebuilt eventually too. Nothing lasts forever.
@@JohnFromAccounting What about these crazy people walking on the arches ??? To me this was bad planning.........
I'm a neighbor of Micheal Maltzan and found this video to be fantastic. Loved seeing Micheal on the channel and I think both the video, and bridge project itself, are dope!
I still love the old art decho style of the bridge. Sad that’s gone. This doesn’t match the other bridges over the la river.
Yeah the thought of "lets not look back at our past, lets look at our future" is so lame in the context of landmark construction. The architecture of the past is what makes older cities so charming, it gives them their own identity.
Imagine London taking down the London bridge because they would rather build cookie cutter bridge projects of the future.
Lean into your established identity, LA. Don't try to rewrite it. This is like a City's version of midlife crisis.
@@SuperCatacata you are talking about a city that bulldozed their entire downtown and bunker hill neighborhood full of Victorian era style houses just to build those monstrosities of today. Its a ghost town after 5pm
@@SuperCatacata lmfao. That’s how it works in pretty much any city. Just like when San Francisco bulldozed the old Transbay terminal to put up Salesforce Tower and the new Salesforce Terminal. Just like when they bulldozed the 76 clock tower by the bay bridge to construct a 52 story skyscraper. Welcome to the real world. In all reality this bridge, being such an outkast. Will definitely become an iconic landmark in LA.
I run a business a few blocks from there. One day a construction worker that’s working on this bridge came in and said that they are almost finishing.
A Bridge is absolutely Architecture, it is part of the City. This is new bridge is Beautiful addition to L.A. Very well done and amazing design.
Useless waste of public money.
I hope it survives the first earth quake. Then will see...
Brooklyn Bridge: am I a joke to you?
I used to live in LA. I really missed the old bridge. For sure the new bridge looks amazing. But the old one is so iconic. I remembered I drove my first car on the riverbed. So much memories.
Next up: When Civil Engineers Design Houses?
A new bridge!!! Homeless people in LA must be happy they have a new place to call home
It's quite elegant but I have to say in this day and age to see so much concrete to be poured with that budget breaks my heart a little. Even steel would be a better option... not great, but better. Anyway the forms are quite refined, it just seems like a heck of a lot of concrete.
Concrete is like fuel. It is completely reasonable to expect new houses to be made from timber, not concrete. Just as electric cars are the most reasonable option today. But concrete must still be used for infrastructure like bridges, the same way fossil fuels must still be used for air travel.
@@bengoacher4455 I disagree. Steel would be more efficient than concrete in this case for such large spans, I would guess it's down to cost and labour knowledge. Steel also has high embodied energy of course, but for long spans like this it's a no brainer in terms of efficiency trade-off. I'm not saying build the whole thing out of timber.
I’d love to see a follow up on the landscape architecture and park efforts which will adorn the lower deck and how they also support connection to the surrounding communities. The bridge connects the Arts District and Boyle Heights, of course, but other communities up and down the river via bike paths, parks, etc.
Looks beautiful. I like seeing the connections to the ground below. Hopefully people in wheelchairs, pushing a stroller, etc will be able to use the ramps to enjoy the same access.
Who in their right mind would use those ramps in a wheelchair or with a stroller. I feel tired and unsafe just looking at them.
@@tyharris9994 those of us who have a physical disability also enjoy getting out and about. The able-bodied can use the stairs, just hoping consideration was given to the rest of us.
You don't walk around in that part of Los Angeles unless you're packing heat and have a death wish.
@@barondugger don’t assume those of us using a power wheelchair aren’t armed. 😉
@@steven.l.patterson Hope you have a spare battery pack for those spiral ramps. Not sure why you would want to see a lovely view of the trains and the bums but I sure wish you the best.
Props to LA for having the foresight and willingness to fix the bridge before it crumbled with ppl on it
Stewart, I would invite you to look at another project that is an odd mirror to this quite beautiful bridge. I've been following the construction of the Nairobi Expressway for some time. It's a conflicted project, in that it's a Chinese built and funded toll road/bridge way that lets middle class Kenyans escape the chaos of traffic in a city that grew too fast. The bridges are brutal in its Chinese efficiency, no expense is spent on form factor, and if the road below it twists and turns, the support pillars simply extend further to spread the weight of the bridge, regardless of how they look. All the lines are rigid and following the function of steel, wire and concrete. Much of the road is elevated not to span 18 railroad tracks or large rivers but to keep the paying drivers separated from those below.
At the same time, most of the comments I see from Kenyans are of a sense of pride and ownership. They make youtube videos of the project as if it was a new Tesla factory. They celebrate their new, middle class only toll road and bridge for its promise, not its beauty. I think it says something about how the beauty of a bridge, in an odd way is in the eye of the beholder. I don't think the local Los Angelos see as much beauty in their bridge, despite its architects pretty words and expansive vision. I would like your view on this, if possible.
That’s a very idealistic, self serving view of this bridge.
Did you expect a good take from him?
LA is such a hot city! I think it would really really make sense to make the bridge two-layer with a shaded covered walkway and bikeway under it and the air conditioned cars can go on top.
You obviously don't live in Los Angeles...