Nossaman Congratulates Project Team on Recognition for Gerald Desmond Bridge Replacement Project

We would like to celebrate the Gerald Desmond Bridge Replacement Project for joining the elite group of international bridges that have earned the George S. Richardson Medal. The Engineers’ Society of Western Pennsylvania (ESWP) presented this prestigious award to the project at the International Bridge Conference on July 19th in recognition of a single, recent outstanding achievement in bridge engineering.

The original Gerald Desmond Bridge was built in 1968 and was in dire need of replacement due to its age as well as the growth in size of today’s larger cargo ships and the dramatic increase in trucking traffic with the expansion of the Port of Long Beach.

The new bridge, which opened to traffic in October 2020, spans the Port of Long Beach’s Back Channel with a deck rising 205 feet above the water to accommodate larger vessels. The 1.5-mile cable-stayed bridge includes three traffic lanes in each direction for improved traffic flow, emergency lanes on inner and outer shoulders in each direction and a dedicated bicycle path and pedestrian walkway with three scenic overlooks. With two towers reaching 515 feet, it is the second-tallest cable-stayed bridge in the United States. The $1.56 billion design-build project was a joint effort by the Port of Long Beach and the California Department of Transportation, with funding contributions from the U.S. Department of Transportation and the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Authority, and was designed and built by joint venture of a Shimmick Construction, FCC Construction and Impregilo, with Arup as SFI’s prime designer and engineer of record.

Patrick Harder, Nancy Smith, Brandon Davis, Elinor Eizdi and Howard Coleman provided counsel to the Port of Long Beach on the project.