Los Angeles needed to replace the old 6th Street Bridge, an ugly but beloved local landmark that served as the gateway from DTLA to East Los Angeles' Boyle Heights. Earthquakes are real, and the old bridge could not be saved, or the city would undoubtedly have spent less money to retrofit and leave it there, but instead, there is a new giant bridge-as-public-space reinvention of the bridge in its place.
Since the new bridge has been opened, locals have overtaken it and turned it into a nighttime drag strip, climbed on it in ways the designers should have anticipated, and otherwise demonstrated that the city has no control of what goes on on this bridge.
LAPD can close the 6th street bridge, but that seems to be the extent of their ability to manage what goes on there. Why they don't just post a couple of squad cars there? There are 10,000 LAPD officers.
It's another closure for the new bridge in what seems to be turning into a nightly game of, "will they/won't they close it tonight?"
The bridge has been closed more than five times since it opened earlier this month. Over the weekend, the roadway was closed for three consecutive nights.
The problems plaguing the new bridge have included street takeovers, drag races and climbers.
The issues have led to city councilmember calling for increased police patrols on the bridge and more safety measures to keep people from scaling the sides or blocking off the street. Recently, fencing could be seen blocking off any areas where wannabe daredevils might be able to get a foothold to scale the bridge.
