Iconic structures that are inseparable from the identities of their cities—such as the Eiffel Tower, the Statue of Liberty, or the St. Louis Arch—“are not just major landmarks,” says architect Michael Maltzan, “they’re also observation points from which we see those metropolises differently.” And, in that spirit, Los Angeles’s new Sixth Street Viaduct—by infrastructure engineers/designers HNTB and Michael Maltzan Architecture (MMA)—is already changing readings of its broader urban setting.
Yet this ambitious work, which opened on July 9, did not break entirely new ground—it replaces an irreparably deteriorating 1932 viaduct that was a key landmark in its own right. That vintage overpass, shaped by the City Beautiful movement and completed in time for LA’s first Olympic Games, was the longest of 14 bridges that connect east and west parts of town across the Los Angeles River. Designed by city engineer Merrill Butler, Sixth Street’s original 3,500-foot-long span was famous for its twin supporting, side-by-side arches—central, recognizable features that appeared, like a giant M, in TV shows, ads, videos, and movies, including Grease, Naked Gun, and the Terminator series. But, throughout the viaduct’s lifetime, the sand in its concrete was producing a degenerative alkali-silica reaction, a “cancer,” that caused constant, severe cracking, making the structure highly vulnerable to seismic failure. The city sought remedies to save the beloved bridge (and successfully revitalized neighboring ones, none with the same malady), but ultimately demolished it in 2016.
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