Queensway Twin Bridges

The Queensway Twin Bridges (sometimes Queens Way Bridges or Queensway Bay Bridge) connect downtown Long Beach with the outer Port of Long Beach. They are the southernmost crossing of the Los Angeles River, near the mouth of the river, where it empties into Queensway Bay, and they are the primary arterial link between Long Beach and RMS Queen Mary. The bridges were completed in June 1970[1] and opened on October 5, 1970.[2]

Queensway Twin Bridges
Queensway Twin Bridges, lit at night
Coordinates	33.759985°N 118.199294°W
Carries	Queens Way
Crosses	Los Angeles River / Queensway Bay
Locale	Long Beach, California
NBI	53C-0551 L/R
Characteristics
Design	Orthotropic deck steel box girder
Material	Steel
Total length	1,200 ft (370 m) each (5,400 ft (1,600 m) each, including approaches)
Width	46 ft (14 m) each
Longest span	500 ft (150 m) each
No. of spans	3 each
Piers in water	4 total (2 per bridge)
Clearance below	45 ft (14 m)
No. of lanes	6 (3 on each bridge)
History
Designer	Martin A. Nishkian
Construction end	June 1970
Construction cost	1966: US$15,500,000 (equivalent to $122,140,000 in 2019)
Opened	October 5, 1970
Location

History

During the planning and construction phase, the bridge was known as the Magnolia Avenue Bridge[3] or Magnolia Bridge.[4] The consulting engineering firm headed by Martin A. Nishkian was retained to design the bridge.[5]

The Bridges were built relatively quickly. The superstructure was prefabricated offsite, shipped and partially assembled before being erected in 14 pieces over only 11 days.[6] Murphy Pacific fabricated the complete superstructure in their Richmond, California yard and shipped it to Long Beach in 30 sections via barge.[7] Six segments were erected on the harbor side in late January 1970; the six mirror-image segments were erected on the Long Beach side in early May 1970; finally, the largest and heaviest 290-foot (88 m) long drop-in sections of the main spans were erected on 26 May 1970.[7]

By 1972, the Bridges had taken on their present name.[4]

In April 2010, seismic retrofits were started on ramps leading to the Bridges. The contractor abruptly abandoned work in November 2010,[8] with the contractor stating they had not been paid and the County of Los Angeles finding fault in the contractor's work to-date.[9]

Design

Each bridge carries an orthotropic deck atop steel box girders. Each bridge spans a total of 1,200 ft (370 m), excluding approaches, as a three-span girder bridge, with a 500 ft (150 m) main span flanked on each side by a 350 ft (110 m) side span.[1][6] Including the 1,900 ft (580 m) south and 2,300 ft (700 m) north approaches, the total length of each bridge is 5,400 ft (1,600 m).[3] The deck is coated with an epoxy asphalt wearing surface.[10]

The main span includes a central 290 ft (88 m), 617-short-ton (560 t) drop-in section which was lifted in place by the Marine Boss floating crane.[7] The drop-in span is supported on each side by a 105 ft (32 m) section cantilevered off the pier.[1][6] The Bridges feature a 45 ft (14 m) vertical clearance above the average low tide mark and provide three lanes of traffic in each direction with a 6 ft (1.8 m) wide sidewalk outboard of the traffic lanes.[3] The cost of the bridge was estimated at US$7,391,632 (equivalent to $56,680,000 in 2019), with the approach structures costing an additional US$5,882,761 (equivalent to $45,110,000 in 2019).[3]

The Bridges subsequently won an AISC Prize Bridge Award in 1971.[2]

In popular culture

View of bridge from underneath (2016), which has been used as the shooting location for scenes from Dexter

The cost of closing the Queensway Bridges is only US $2,500 per day, facilitating filming on weekdays when many other Los Angeles-area locations are difficult to close.[11] The Queensway Twin Bridges have served as the filming locations for numerous television shows and movies, most notably in:

• CSI: Miami (2002–12): Numerous instances.[12][13][14]
• Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (2004): The biker, played by Jack Black, throws Ron's dog Baxter off the Queensway Twin Bridges.[15]
• Dexter (2006–13): In the season 2 episode The British Invasion (2007), Lila parks under the bridge and examines Dexter's bag of tools; and in the season 3 episode The Lion Sleeps Tonight (2008), Dexter meets with Miguel Prado under the bridge.[16]
• Bedtime Stories (2008): A candy truck gets into an accident on the bridge, raining gumballs on Skeeter.[17]
• Get Smart (2008): Driving scenes were shot on the bridge.[18]
• Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (2009): The bridge served as a freeway in Shanghai.[17]
• Knight and Day (2010): Roy and June ride a motorcycle across the bridge (with the location transplanted to Spain).[17][19]
• The Bridge (2013–14): The Queensway Twin Bridges served as the eponymous Bridge of the Americas.[20][21]
• Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (2013–): An explosion scene for the Season 1 episode titled "The Bridge" was filmed on November 6, 2013.[22]
• Rosewood (2015–): The Season 1 finale featured a car explosion filmed on the bridge.[23]

See also

•  Transport portal
•  Engineering portal
•  California portal
•  Greater Los Angeles portal
• List of crossings of the Los Angeles River

References

1. Mangus, Alfred R.; Sun, Shawn (1999). "14: Orthotropic Deck Bridges". In Chen, Wai-Fah; Duan, Lian (eds.). Bridge Engineering Handbook. Boca Raton, Florida: CRC Press. p. 14-14. ISBN 0-8493-7434-0. Retrieved 1 January 2017.
2. Sieg, Sondra Nishkian (7 November 2015). "ANOTHER VIEW: Family Honors Long Beach Bridge Designer". Gazettes. Retrieved 1 January 2017.
3. "Magnolia Span Plan Approved". Long Beach Independent. 10 February 1967. p. 21. Retrieved 1 January 2017.(subscription required)
4. Dr. Disney Wizard (9 August 2010). "1970 map, Shoreline and Pike Amusement Zone streets, Long Beach, CA". flickr. Retrieved 1 January 2017.
5. "Bridge Planned in Harbor Area". Los Angeles Times. 16 October 1966. Retrieved 1 January 2017.(subscription required)
6. Mangus, Alfred R. (23–25 June 2004). The California Orthotropic Steel Bridges 1965–2004 (PDF). Steelbridge 2004. Millau. pp. 53–54. Retrieved 1 January 2017.
7. Murphy, Jay P. (June 2007). "Early California accelerated steel bridge construction" (PDF). Steel TIPS. Structural Steel Educational Council Technical Information & Product Service. Archived (PDF) from the original on 25 July 2016. Retrieved 1 January 2017.
8. Department of Public Works, County of Los Angeles (1 March 2011). "Find contractor in default: Bridge Seismic Retrofit, Queensway southbound ramps J & K over Harbor Scenic Drive, City of Long Beach (Supervisoral District 4)". Letter to Board of Supervisors, County of Los Angeles. Retrieved 1 January 2017.
9. Lin II, Rong-Gong (22 March 2011). "Seismic retrofit stalled on ramps to Queensway Bay Bridge in Long Beach". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 1 January 2017.
10. "Epoxy Asphalt: Detailed Information". ChemCo Systems. 2013. Retrieved 1 January 2017.
11. Grobaty, Tim (6 January 2014). "Movies are gravy, but commercials are Long Beach's bread and butter". Long Beach Press-Telegram. Retrieved 1 January 2017. Other features of Long Beach that draw location scouts are the Queensway Bridge and Shoreline Drive.
     “The bridge is a huge plus,” says Logan. “And the thing about the Queensway Bridge is, because it’s mostly used to get to the Queen Mary, it’s actually easier to close on weekdays than on weekends. That’s a rare and random thing, and it’s huge because it’s incredibly less expensive to shoot on weekdays than on weekends. It’s very difficult to film in Los Angeles on weekdays, and it’s infinitely easier to film in Long Beach. The same with Shoreline Drive, which gives a good look for a freeway.”
     The fees for using locations aren’t prohibitive for filmers. Shoreline Drive can be used for $5,000 a day; the Queensway Bridge goes for $2,500. For a more Miamian look, the Appian Way Bridge fee is $1,000 a day.
12. Grobaty, Tim (3 April 2008). "Filming in 'Palm' Beach". Long Beach Press-Telegram. Retrieved 1 January 2017.
13. Grobaty, Tim (26 July 2010). "Hush-hush TV show keeps its secrets in Long Beach". Long Beach Press-Telegram. Retrieved 1 January 2017.
14. Wayne, Gary (2017). "CSI: Miami". Seeing Stars. Retrieved 1 January 2017.
15. Wayne, Gary (2017). "Anchorman". Seeing Stars. Retrieved 1 January 2017.
16. Wayne, Gary (2017). "Under The Bridge". Seeing Stars. Retrieved 1 January 2017.
17. Grobaty, Tim (2012). Location Filming in Long Beach. Charleston, South Carolina: The History Press. ISBN 978-1-61423-776-1. Retrieved 1 January 2017.
18. "Filmers follow the signs". Long Beach Press Telegram. 22 March 2007. Retrieved 2 October 2018.
19. Wayne, Gary (2017). "Knight and Day". Seeing Stars. Retrieved 1 January 2017.
20. Grobaty, Tim (2 July 2013). "Showtime's 'Dexter' ends its gory run of Long Beach location shoots". Long Beach Press-Telegram. Retrieved 1 January 2017.
21. Hewitt, Michael (19 September 2013). "'Dexter' makes final kill in Long Beach". OC Register. Retrieved 1 January 2017.
22. Benjamin, Troy (2017). "The Real Bridge". Marvel Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: Season One Declassified. Marvel Publishing. ISBN 978-1-302-50075-7. Retrieved 2 October 2018.
23. Grobaty, Tim (31 March 2016). "Find out who's filming in Long Beach". Long Beach Press-Telegram. Retrieved 1 January 2017.

External links

• Huang, Carl; Mangus, Alfred R.; Murphy, Jay (16–19 May 2007). Building Big Using the A. B. C. Techniques for Large Steel Orthotropic Bridges. Structures Congress 2007. Long Beach, California: American Society of Civil Engineers. doi:10.1061/40946(248)76.
• Curtis, G.N. (1980). "Design of the Queens Way Bridge". Modern Welded Structures. IV. Cleveland, Ohio: James F. Lincoln Arc Welding Foundation. p. A-34. OCLC 45611241.
• "Prefab steel bridge girders are biggest ever lifted". Engineering News Record: 34. 27 August 1970.