The Commodore Schuyler F. Heim Bridge is a vertical-lift bridge in the Port of Los Angeles.
The bridge, dedicated on January 10, 1948,[1] allows State Route 47 (the Terminal Island Freeway) to cross over the Cerritos Channel. It is the largest vertical lift bridge on the West Coast. The deck of the bridge is an open grid to decrease weight and ease lifting of the bridge to allow ship traffic to pass underneath.
SR 47 and the connecting State Route 103 are heavily used by trucks to bypass part of the crowded Interstate 710 freeway. Due to the large amount of heavy truck traffic over the bridge, the deck is subject to excessive wear. The deck was completely replaced in 1997 but was still under extreme distress. The California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) installed eight experimental fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) panels and attached sensors to test stress, load bearing, and temperature variations of the panels to determine their effectiveness as a permanent replacement.[2] Chicago-based engineering firm CTLGroup installed strain gages and thermocouples within the layers of the FRP. Each month, technicians perform a remote static load test of the bridge, providing direction to onsite Caltrans staff while monitoring real-time data from the firm's Chicago office.
A proposal has been made to replace the Schuyler Heim Bridge with a four-lane fixed-span bridge by 2011.[3]
The Chief Engineer for the bridge was the late Henry Wilson.
The bridge is seen in the opening credits of the American television series Mannix. Mike Connors, playing Joe Mannix, is seen running across the bridge. It was also seen on an episode of the 1970s TV series "Emergency!." The bridge plays a key role in the plot of the 2010 motion picture Inception.
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