Gerald Desmond Bridge

The Port of Long Beach has selected Parsons Brinckerhoff to provide programme and construction management services for the $950m replacement of the Gerald Desmond Bridge in California, US.

Parsons Brinckerhoff will be responsible for utilities coordination, speciality materials testing, submittals management, surveying, community outreach and project controls, which do not include programme management and construction management services.

The company will also take care of the document control, cost estimating and scheduling, funding and grants support, and traffic engineering.

The groundbreaking for the replacement of the bridge is expected to begin in early 2013.

Gerald Desmond Bridge will be the first cable-stayed vehicular bridge in the state of California, with 200ft of vertical clearance, which was originally 155ft.

The bridge that connects the Port of Long Beach and the city’s downtown business district will be designed to manage the traffic load.

The new bridge will be wider and have emergency lanes to clear heavy traffic and cargo ships.

The replaced bridge will have two towers that are around 500ft high and 2,000ft long, with the main span approximately 1,000ft from tower to tower.

Construction of the vehicular bridge will include approaches, ramps and connectors to Ocean Boulevard and the I-710 Long Beach Freeway.

The existing bridge will be demolished once the replacement structure is constructed.

Image: The current Gerald Desmond Bridge, California, US. Photo: courtesy of neighbourhoods.org.