New Sixth Street bridge will be delayed until late 2020

The Sixth Street Viaduct replacement project is removing a historic but decaying bridge over the Los Angeles River and putting a striking, swoopy new viaduct in its place.

Angelenos will have to wait a little longer than expected to drive, walk, and bike across that new bridge. The Downtown News reports that the project is now expected to cost an additional $36 million—and take eight months longer to complete.

The newspaper cites city documents that show the project, previously planned to cost $446.6 million has a new estimate: $482.2 million.

Mary Nemick, communications director for the city’s engineering bureau, tells Curbed that the bulk of the $36 million (about $21 million) is associated with a newly extended construction schedule.

By Elizabeth Daniels

Partly to blame for the delay, she said, are restrictions associated with the railroad tracks that run directly through the project area. (There are nine tracks on each side of the river used by five different rail entities. This element of the project was always expected to be complex.)

The replacement bridge was supposed to be up in late 2019. Now, the project is expected to be complete by the end of 2020, Nemick tells Curbed. (Those city documents mention contractors Skanska Stacey Witbeck may extend its contract until 2021, but Nemick says this is just a usual contractual practice and it doesn’t mean bridge building will be going until 2021.)

The new Sixth Street Viaduct, whenever it’s finished, will connect Boyle Heights and the Arts District. Designed by local starchitect Michael Maltzan, the bridge will cross over a new 1.4-acre public art plaza.

• Price of Sixth Street Bridge Rises by $36 Million [Downtown News]
• There Will Be a Public Art Plaza Below LA's New Sixth Street Bridge [Curbed LA]