| Vincent Thomas Bridge | |
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The Vincent Thomas Bridge in 2009 |
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| Carries | 4 lanes of SR 47 |
| Crosses | Los Angeles Harbor |
| Locale | San Pedro, California and Terminal Island |
| Maintained by | Caltrans |
| Design | Suspension bridge |
| Total length | 6,060 feet (1,847 m) |
| Width | 52 feet (16 m) (typical) |
| Height | 365 feet (111 m) |
| Longest span | 1,500 feet (457 m) |
| Vertical clearance | approximately 185 feet (56 m) |
| Opened | November 15, 1963 |
| Daily traffic | 32,000 |
The Vincent Thomas Bridge is a 1,500-foot (460 m) long suspension bridge, opened in 1963, 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. It is the fourth longest suspension bridge in California. It is also the bridge with the 76th longest span in the world. The clear height of the navigation channel is approximately 185 ft.[1]
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The bridge was built to replace the ferries that connected San Pedro and Terminal Island, in anticipation of increased traffic volume accompanying growth of the port. State legislator Vincent Thomas, representing San Pedro, was the bridge's champion. A special act of the legislature[2] was required in order to name the bridge after Thomas while he was still in office.
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 U.S. 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, with the toll plaza on the Terminal Island side. 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 eliminated. 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.
In January 2005, after 17 years of planning and fundraising, the bridge was illuminated with blue LED lights, powered by solar panels. There are 160 lights on the bridge and it is the first combined use of solar power and LEDs in a bridge lighting installation. The lights operate from dusk to midnight to minimize impact on wildlife.
On October 26, 1990, 1964 Olympic diving bronze medalist Larry Andreasen was killed jumping from the west tower of the bridge in an attempt to set a diving record.[3]
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.
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