Have you heard about the new 6th Street Bridge Viaduct in Los Angeles? It opened a couple of weeks ago and everyone loves it. This includes a huge number of people who have effectively shut it down by doing donuts in their muscle cars, climbing the arches, and strolling across the bridge viaduct in mass numbers.
Naturally I wanted to see that, and on Sunday I finally got up to LA to take a look. Unfortunately, the LAPD had announced that morning that they'd be out in force to bring back law and order. This is good for drivers who want to get to the other side, but not so good for photographers looking for compelling pictures.
But I was up there and I took pictures anyway. It turns out there's a pedestrian spiral down at the bottom that will take you up to the bridge viaduct, but it was too long a walk for me. However, I did go about halfway up and took a panorama shot right at sunset.
I was in Boyle Heights at that point, so I drove west across the viaduct and took pictures through the windshield of my car with the LA skyline in the background.
At the other side I found a parking space and puttered around a bit. It was too much of a hike to get anywhere interesting, so instead I returned to my car and drove east back to Boyle Heights, taking more pictures through my windshield. Note the skid marks on the roadway.
You may have seen pictures of the viaduct lit up in red and blue, but on Sunday it was lit in boring old white. So that's what you get.
I read that it was a common target for street racers and ppl doing donuts. Can't help but notice that this is one heck of a path, over 3/4 of a mile long with a couple of nice curves and zero stoplights. You can see the tread marks in the photos.
Why we can’t have nice infrastructure projects I guess.
A bike lane and everything!
Yes, but not sufficiently protected, per the local bike lobby.
That second picture is unreal. I wonder what time of day the picture was taken,
Did you notice that all that work and they put the bikes *in* that racy traffic instead of on the other side of a nice, thick concrete barrier?
It's like they hate cyclists or something.
Why does it have four lanes? Does traffic ever back up on it? Why not some nice busses or trollies?
I understand the allure of the second image...but for me it is the third image that is the most...photogenic. Tastes vary...Best Wishes, Traveller