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36-594: The Gerald Desmond Bridge was a 1968 through arch bridge that carried five lanes of Ocean Boulevard from Interstate 710 in Long Beach, California , west across the Back Channel to Terminal Island . The bridge was named after Gerald Desmond , a prominent civic leader and former city attorney for the City of Long Beach. In October 2020, a new cable-stayed bridge named Long Beach International Gateway replaced

72-590: A barrier for large ships entering the Inner Harbor at Long Beach, with its restrictive 155-foot (47 m) vertical clearance. This restrictive vertical clearance was cited as a factor in an observed drop in the Port of Long Beach's share of United States container imports. According to U.S. census data, the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles handled 32% of U.S. container imports in 2013, down from 39% in 2002. Port officials estimated that 10% of all waterborne cargo in

108-629: A combination is within the limits of national road regulations in many countries, requiring no special permission. As some road regulations allow longer trucks, there are also variations of the standard 40-foot container; in Europe and most other places a container of 45 feet (13.72 m) may be pulled as a trailer. Containers with a length of 48 feet (14.63 m) or 53 feet (16.15 m) are restricted to road and rail transport in North America. Although longer than 40 feet, these variants are put in

144-480: A featured role in the film Head , featuring rock group The Monkees , released in 1968. The first scene of the film features the actual dedication ceremony for the bridge, which is interrupted by the Monkees running into the middle of the ceremony and Micky Dolenz jumping off the bridge. At the conclusion of the film, the Monkees return to the bridge and each of them jumps from it. Elysian Freeway Bridge, based on

180-448: A volume range of 680 to 1,520 cubic feet (19 to 43 m ) for one TEU. While the TEU is not itself a measure of mass, some conclusions can be drawn about the maximum mass that a TEU can represent. The maximum gross mass for a 20-foot (6.1 m) dry cargo container is 24,000 kilograms (53,000 lb). Subtracting the tare mass of the container itself, the maximum amount of cargo per TEU

216-440: Is 19 feet 10.5 inches (6.058 m) long and eight feet (2.44 m) wide. The height of such containers is most commonly 8 feet 6 inches (2.59 m) but ranges from 4 feet 3 inches (1.30 m) to 9 feet 6 inches (2.90 m). Another standard container is slightly more than twice as long: 40-foot (12.19 m), dubbed a forty-foot equivalent unit (often FEU or feu ). The reason

252-518: Is constructed in place or lifted into position. In some cases, this type of arch has been created by constructing cantilevers from each side, with the shoreside ends bolted securely down into heavy piers. The incomplete channel ends are then constructed toward each other and either filled by construction or by lifting a prefabricated center section. This type of construction was used in the Sydney Harbour Bridge illustrated above, with

288-547: Is defined as two TEU. It is common to designate a 45-foot (13.7 m) container as 2 TEU, rather than 2.25 TEU. The most common twenty-foot container occupies a space 20 feet (6.1 m) long, 8 feet (2.44 m) wide, and 8 feet 6 inches (2.59 m) high, with an allowance externally for the corner castings ; the internal volume is 1,172 cubic feet (33.2 m ). However, both 9-foot-6-inch-tall (2.90 m) High cube and 4-foot-3-inch (1.30 m) half height containers are also reckoned as 1 TEU. This gives

324-399: Is not practical to support the arch from beneath during construction. In modern construction, temporary towers are erected and supported by cables anchored in the ground. Temporary cables fly from each side to support arch segments as they are constructed. When the arches are almost complete a jacking bridge is placed over or beneath the gap to force the arches apart, whence the final section

360-465: Is reduced to about 21,600 kilograms (47,600 lb). Similarly, the maximum gross mass for a 40-foot (12.2 m) dry cargo container (including the 9-foot-6-inch (2.90 m) High cube container) is 30,480 kilograms (67,200 lb). After correcting for tare weight, this gives a cargo capacity of 26,500 kilograms (58,400 lb). Twenty-foot "heavy tested" containers are available for heavy goods such as heavy machinery. These containers allow

396-975: The Chaotianmen Bridge in China, the world's longest through arch bridge; Tyne Bridge of Newcastle upon Tyne ; the Bayonne Bridge that connects New York City to New Jersey , which is longer than the Sydney Harbour Bridge; the Ahwaz White Bridge ; the Bourne Bridge and Sagamore Bridge , smaller, near-twin bridges over the Cape Cod Canal ; the Pennybacker Bridge in Austin , Texas and as

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432-676: The Hernando de Soto Bridge in Memphis, Tennessee . Wylam Railway Bridge is an early through arch bridge upstream of the Tyne Bridge. The through arch bridge usually consists of two ribs, although there are examples like the Hulme Arch Bridge of through arches with a single rib. When the two arches are built in parallel planes, the structure is a parallel rib arch bridge. When the two arch ribs lean together and shorten

468-586: The Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) dock; it docked at the Hanjin terminal instead. The 1968 steel arch bridge developed numerous issues (detailed above), and the Port of Long Beach suggested it would be more economical to replace the bridge. After several years of studies, a cable-stayed bridge with 205 feet (62 m) of vertical clearance to be built north of the existing bridge

504-477: The 1968 arch bridge, is also featured in the 2013 video game Grand Theft Auto V . It carries the Elysian Fields Freeway in-game. Through arch bridge For a specific construction method, especially for masonry arches, the proportions of the arch remain similar no matter what the size: wider arches are thus required to be taller arches. For a semi-circular arch, the height is half of

540-460: The 1968 bridge roadway lacks emergency/breakdown lanes, multiple lanes would be shut down in the event of an accident, snarling traffic. Other deficiencies cited include the steep approach grades (5.5 percent on the west side and 6 percent on the east side) Competition in the marine shipping industry meant shipping companies were interested in boosting operating efficiency, mainly by building ever-larger container ships. The Gerald Desmond Bridge became

576-476: The Cerritos Channel. The western terminus of the bridge is on the east side of Terminal Island; the eastern terminus is close to downtown Long Beach. The bridge separates the inner harbor (north of the bridge) of the Port of Long Beach from the middle harbor. The bridge was retrofitted with vibration isolators and additional foundation work (widening footings and adding pilings) was performed to upgrade

612-597: The United States passed under the Desmond Bridge (either going to or coming from the Ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles) in 2004, raising the estimate to 15% by 2010. In March 2012, the insufficient vertical clearance of the bridge prevented passage of the 12,562  TEU MSC Fabiola , the largest container ship ever to enter the Port of Long Beach. The height restriction prevented the ship from docking at

648-494: The United States, resulting in greater cargo truck and marine traffic. By some estimates, truck traffic across the bridge tripled in the years following the closure of the Long Beach NSY. By 2010, the 155-foot (47 m) vertical clearance of the 1968 bridge was one of the lowest for a commercial seaport, especially at the Port of Long Beach, which remains one of the busiest container ports in the United States. In addition,

684-545: The bridge that would later bear his name. Desmond died in office at age 48 of kidney cancer. One year after Desmond's death in January 1964, groundbreaking for the construction of the new bridge occurred on October 19, 1965, and it was completed in June 1968. Desmond's son, also named Gerald, sank the final "golden" bolt. It has a 527-foot-long (161 m) suspended main span and a 155-foot (47 m) vertical clearance spanning

720-517: The bridge to open, traffic delays of up to 15 minutes could occur. An estimated seven people died after driving off the pontoon bridge. The 1968 through-arch bridge was designed by Moffatt & Nichol Engineers and was constructed by Bethlehem Steel as a replacement for the World War II-era pontoon bridge. Gerald Desmond served as City Attorney for Long Beach and played a significant role in obtaining tideland oil funds which helped finance

756-439: The bridge was not designed for the traffic it carried (62,000 vehicles daily in 2012), and the added stress was causing pieces of concrete to fall from the bridge's underside, forcing the Port of Long Beach to install nylon mesh "diapers" in 2004 to catch these chunks. Studies to widen the bridge were funded in 1987. Caltrans rated the structural sufficiency of the Desmond Bridge at 43 points out of possible 100 in 2007. Also, since

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792-425: The cost of building long approach embankments may be considerable. Further issues are the foundations for the bridge. Arch bridges generate large side thrusts on their footings and so may require a solid bedrock foundation. Flattening the arch shape to avoid the humpback problem, such as for Brunel's Maidenhead bridge , increases this side thrust. It is often impossible to achieve a flat enough arch, simply owing to

828-405: The deck from the arch by tension rods, chains or cables and allow a gap in the arch, so the deck can pass through it. The first of these in particular cannot be achieved with masonry construction and requires wrought iron or steel. The use of a through arch does not change the proportions or size of the arch: a large span will still require a tall arch, although this can now reach any height above

864-623: The deck without obstructing traffic. The arch may also reach downwards at its sides, to either reach strong foundations or to place the roadway at a convenient height for spanning a deep valley from a plateau above. The Tyne Bridge demonstrates both of these advantages. A well-known example of this type is the Sydney Harbour Bridge in Australia, which is based on the Hell Gate Bridge in New York City . Other bridges include

900-491: The deliberate tension member that is the key to a tied-arch. Although visually similar, tied- and untied- through-arch bridges are quite distinct structurally and are unrelated in how they distribute their loads. In particular, cast iron bridges such as the Stanley Ferry Aqueduct may resemble tied-arch bridges, but as cast iron is weak in tension they are not structurally a tied arch. In some locations it

936-408: The distance between the arches near the top, the span is a basket handle arch bridge. Many tied-arch bridges are also through-arch bridges. As well as tying the side-loads of the arch, the tension member is also at a convenient height to form the bridge deck, as for a through-arch. The converse is not true: through-arch bridges do not imply that they are tied-arch bridges, unless they also provide

972-403: The limitations of the foundations – particularly in flat country. Historically, such bridges often became viaducts of multiple small arches. With the availability of iron or concrete as structural materials, it became possible to construct a through arch bridge : a bridge where the deck does not have to be carried over the top of the arch. This requires a structure that can both support

1008-410: The main span and the approaches. Earlier reports had studied and discarded various alternatives, including an alternative alignment with a new bridge south of the existing bridge, rehabilitation of the existing bridge, and a tunnel instead of an elevated bridge. The 1944 pontoon bridge was featured in a chase scene appearing in the 1963 film It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World . The 1968 arch bridge had

1044-601: The old Gerald Desmond Bridge to allow taller container ships to access the ports. Demolition of the old bridge began in July 2022 and was completed in August 2023. Prior to 1944, the only road access to Terminal Island was via Badger Avenue (later Henry Ford Avenue, after an assembly plant that was built on the island) over the Henry Ford Bridge . The first bridge linking the eastern end of Terminal Island and Long Beach

1080-499: The same class of forty-foot equivalent units. The carrying capacity of a ship is usually measured by mass (the deadweight tonnage ) or by volume (the net register tonnage ). Deadweight tonnage is generally measured now in metric tons ( tonnes ). Register tons are measured in cu. ft, with one register ton equivalent to 100 cubic feet (2.83 m ). As the TEU is an inexact unit, it cannot be converted precisely into other units. The related unit forty-foot equivalent unit , however,

1116-480: The seismic resistance from 1996–97 prior to the transfer of ownership from the Port of Long Beach to Caltrans. At the time of its completion in 1968, traffic was projected to be modest and mainly limited to workers commuting to jobs at the Long Beach Naval Shipyard. When the Long Beach NSY was closed in 1997, that land was converted and served as home to one of the busiest container terminals in

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1152-403: The smaller container is 1.5 inches short of 20 feet is to allow it to be stacked efficiently with 40-foot containers. The twistlocks on a ship are set so that two standard 20-foot containers have a gap of three inches, allowing a single 40-foot container to fit precisely on top. The 40-foot containers have found wider acceptance, as they can be pulled by semi-trailer trucks . The length of such

1188-669: The span. Bridges across deep, narrow gorges can have their arch placed entirely beneath a flat roadway, but bridges in flatter country rise above their road approaches. A wide bridge may require an arch so tall as to become a significant obstacle and incline for the roadway. Small bridges can be hump-backed , but larger bridges such as the Old Bridge, Pontypridd may become so steep as to require steps, making their use for wheeled traffic difficult. Railways also find arched bridges difficult as they are even less tolerant of inclines. Where simple arched bridges are used for railways on flat terrain

1224-531: The supporting cables to the higher side of the arches removed after completion. Twenty-foot equivalent unit The twenty-foot equivalent unit (abbreviated TEU or teu ) is a general unit of cargo capacity, often used for container ships and container ports . It is based on the volume of a 20-foot-long (6.1 m) intermodal container , a standard-sized metal box that can be easily transferred between different modes of transportation, such as ships, trains, and trucks. The standard intermodal container

1260-513: Was an unnamed "temporary" pontoon bridge constructed during World War II to accommodate traffic resulting from the expansion of the Long Beach Naval Shipyard . The pontoon bridge was intended to last six months, but was not replaced until 1968, 24 years after it had opened. Depending on the level of the tide, road traffic had to descend 17 to 25 feet (5.2 to 7.6 m) below the level on the shore. When marine traffic required

1296-634: Was identified as the preferred alternative in the final environmental impact report (2010 FEIR ). The new bridge will allow access to the port for the tallest container ships, and will be the first long-span cable-stayed bridge in California , and the first and only cable-stayed bridge in the Los Angeles metropolitan area . For the bridge to be so tall, long approaches will be required to allow trucks to cross. A joint venture of Parsons Transportation Group and HNTB performed preliminary engineering for

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