The Queensway Twin Bridges connect downtown Long Beach with the outer Port of Long Beach. They are the southernmost crossing of the Los Angeles River, near the mouth of the river, where it empties into Queensway Bay, and they are the primary arterial link between Long Beach and RMS Queen Mary. The bridges were completed in June 1970 and opened on October 5, 1970.
History
During the planning and construction phase, the bridge was known as the Magnolia Avenue Bridge or Magnolia Bridge. The consulting engineering firm headed by Martin A. Nishkian was retained to design the bridge. The Bridges were built relatively quickly. The superstructure was prefabricated offsite, shipped and partially assembled before being erected in 14 pieces over only 11 days. Murphy Pacific fabricated the complete superstructure in their Richmond, California yard and shipped it to Long Beach in 30 sections via barge. Six segments were erected on the harbor side in late January 1970; the six mirror-image segments were erected on the Long Beach side in early May 1970; finally, the largest and heaviest long drop-in sections of the main spans were erected on 26 May 1970. By 1972, the Bridges had taken on their present name. In April 2010, seismic retrofits were started on ramps leading to the Bridges. The contractor abruptly abandoned work in November 2010, with the contractor stating they had not been paid and the County of Los Angeles finding fault in the contractor's work to-date.
Design
Each bridge carries an orthotropic deck atop steel box girders. Each bridge spans a total of, excluding approaches, as a three-span girder bridge, with a main span flanked on each side by a side span. Including the south and north approaches, the total length of each bridge is. The deck is coated with an epoxy asphalt wearing surface. The main span includes a central, drop-in section which was lifted in place by the Marine Boss floating crane. The drop-in span is supported on each side by a section cantilevered off the pier. The Bridges feature a vertical clearance above the average low tide mark and provide three lanes of traffic in each direction with a wide sidewalk outboard of the traffic lanes. The cost of the bridge was estimated at, with the approach structures costing an additional. The Bridges subsequently won an AISC Prize Bridge Award in 1971.
In popular culture
The cost of closing the Queensway Bridges is only US $2,500 per day, facilitating filming on weekdays when many other Los Angeles-area locations are difficult to close. The Queensway Twin Bridges have served as the filming locations for numerous television shows and movies, most notably in:
' : Numerous instances.
' : The biker throws Ron's dog Baxter off the Queensway Twin Bridges.
Dexter : In the season 2 episode The British Invasion, Lila parks under the bridge and examines Dexter's bag of tools; and in the season 3 episode The Lion Sleeps Tonight, Dexter meets with Miguel Prado under the bridge.
Bedtime Stories : A candy truck gets into an accident on the bridge, raining gumballs on Skeeter.
Get Smart : Driving scenes were shot on the bridge.
