by WorldTribune Staff / 247 Real News July 28, 2022

The 6th Street Viaduct bridge in Los Angeles opened to great fanfare on July 10. The $588-million bridge, which spans the Los Angeles River to connect downtown to the historic Eastside, has been hailed as an architectural marvel.

It has also been shut down several times in the less than three weeks it has been open.

The Los Angeles Police Department said the new bridge quickly became a hotspot for street racing, graffiti, and illegal street takeovers that draw hundreds of spectators to watch drivers perform dangerous stunts in their vehicles.

There have already been several crashes on the bridge, police say, including a three-car collision where one driver, who had been part of a street takeover, left his white Dodge Challenger and ran from the scene. He later turned himself in.

Social media stunts have also been filmed on the bridge. In one case, a man sat in a barber’s chair for a haircut in the middle of the lanes, LA police said.

City officials said they are looking at installing speed bumps, safety fences and cameras on the bridge to curtail the behavior. In the meantime, officers are impounding vehicles and issuing citations.

“While the Mayor recognizes that the celebration of this bridge is overwhelmingly positive, he has no tolerance for behavior that keeps Angelenos from enjoying this new landmark,” Harrison Wollman, Mayor Eric Garcetti’s press secretary, said in a statement on Wednesday. “The City is reviewing additional safety options and is taking immediate action to ensure the bridge is safe and accessible for everyone.”

The bridge, the largest and most expensive ever built in the city, spans 3,500 feet (1,066.80 meters) from the trendy Arts District to Boyle Heights, a traditionally working class Latino neighborhood.

Known as the “Ribbon of Light” for its thousands of LED lights and tilted arches, the new bridge replaced an 84-year-old Art Deco bridge which had been seen in numerous Hollywood movies including “Grease” and “Terminator 2.” The old bridge was demolished in 2016 after a chemical reaction weakened its concrete over decades.

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  has already been closed several times, LA’s architectural marvel $588 million bridge, opened on July 10, WorldTribune.com