Vincent Thomas Bridge

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Vincent Thomas Bridge

Carries	4 lanes of SR 47
Crosses	Los Angeles Harbor
Locale	San Pedro, California and Terminal Island
Maintained by	Caltrans
Design	Suspension bridge
Longest span	1,500 feet (457 m)
Total length	6,060 feet (1,847 m)
AADT	32,000
Opening date	November 15, 1963
Coordinates	33°44′58″N, 118°16′18″W

Eastbound view while driving along the span

The Vincent Thomas Bridge is a 1,500-foot (460 m) long suspension bridge crossing the Los Angeles Harbor in the U.S. state of California, linking San Pedro, Los Angeles, with Terminal Island. The bridge is signed as part of State Route 47. It is named for California Assemblyman Vincent Thomas of San Pedro.

1 History and description
2 In popular culture
3 Photos
4 External links

[edit] History and description

Throughout the bridge's construction and in the early years after its opening, it was derided as a "bridge to nowhere." In the 1970s, however, its importance drastically increased as the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach displaced those of the San Francisco Bay Area as the principal port on the West Coast. Today, the Vincent Thomas Bridge carries a considerable volume of truck traffic from the southernmost slips of the Port of Los Angeles, in San Pedro, onto the Terminal Island Freeway and eventually to the southern end of the Long Beach Freeway; from there, freight goes from the port complex to the rail yards of East Los Angeles and the Inland Empire.

When the bridge opened in 1963, the toll was 25 cents in each direction. In 1983, the toll increased to 50 cents for westbound traffic but became free for eastbound traffic. By 2000, the Vincent Thomas Bridge was one of only two toll bridges remaining in Southern California (the other being the San Diego-Coronado Bridge in San Diego), during which year tolls on the Vincent Thomas Bridge were removed completely. After the San Diego-Coronado Bridge stopped collecting tolls in 2002, the California Department of Transportation was able to devolve authority over toll bridges to the Bay Area Toll Authority in June 2005.

The Catalina Terminal (Berth 95), the location for all of San Pedro's departing ferries and helicopters to Santa Catalina Island, is located underneath the western part of the bridge.

[edit] In popular culture

The bridge is featured in the climax of the movie Gone in Sixty Seconds, starring Nicolas Cage, and in a scene of the 2000 movie Charlie's Angels where Cameron Diaz and Crispin Glover face off in two racecars.

The bridge is also featured in the classic episode of CHiPs titled "Taking Its Toll". The bridge is also seen in a scene in National Security .

The film To Live and Die in L.A., released in 1985, makes extensive use of the bridge. Early in the film, Richard Chance (William Petersen), on a bet (and for the thrill of it), makes a jump off the bridge using a safety line. Throughout the film the bridge can be seen in the background from the house of Chance's girlfriend/informant Ruth Lanier (Darlanne Fluegel). During the end credits, a continuous shot shows the bridge being crossed in the eastbound direction.

The bridge was sometimes visible in opening scenes of the television show The Love Boat, as Princess Lines' Los Angeles passenger terminal was (and still is) located near the bridge.