|
(cont'd)
1935 aerial view showing first Strauss bascule bridge
at Port (1910-1957) located at mouth of West Basin.
Note second Strauss bascule bridge
at Port (Henry Ford Bridge) (top right)
Concurrent with the increase in automotive and truck traffic, the railroad shipping industry began a slow decline in operating revenues. Especially hard-hit was the railroad's ability to haul goods cost-effectively from Terminal Island to local areas. While long-range shipments to inner regions of the U.S. from the coast remained the primary domain of the railroad, trucks and moving vans proved quicker and cheaper for short trips to nearby Los Angeles. The combination of rail and truck use provided by the Henry Ford Bascule Bridge's highlighted the changing needs of the increased numbers of shippers based on Terminal Island.
By the 1930s and 1940s, global changes in transportation predicated changes to the Henry Ford Bridge. Trucks, busses, and more reliable airliners gradually pulled business from the once-dominant railroads. Federal and state funding of highway and road projects increased the number of paved miles throughout the state and nation. Local officials improved Los Angeles thoroughfares to meet the demand of the continually increasing automobile and truck traffic.
View showing Badger Avenue Bridge against
newer, adjacent, "vehicle-only" Schuyler Heim Bridge
Changes on the island such as the Navy's acquisition of Allen Airfield in 1937, resulted in an overall increase in goods traveling to and from Terminal Island Although, shipping traffic increased, the preferred mode of transport was roadway vehicles not railroads. This change reduced the need for rail access and increased the need for roadway vehicle access. Thus, in sometime prior to World War II, railroad officials removed one set of tracks from the Henry Ford Bridge, leaving only one set of rails into and out of the island.
To increase road vehicle traffic capacity to Terminal Island, in 1941 the U.S. Navy installed a temporary swing bridge at the location of the current Schuyler F. Heim Bridge and next to the Henry Ford Bridge. During World War II, shipbuilding facilities on Terminal Island required an enormous amount of supplies be transported by rail and truck traffic. Five years after the installation of the two-lane road bridge, the Navy contracted for its replacement with the construction of the modern-day vertical-lift bridge, one of the largest of its type in the country.
Vincent Thomas suspension bridge
Following World War II, automobile and truck usage increased as the California Division of Highways (now Caltrans) filled in the unimproved gaps between highways and constructed new routes through and between growing cities. During the 1950s and 1960s, shipping by both land and sea changed significantly and construction crews produced new bridges to meet the modernized needs. Ships and shipping practices adapted to the introduction of standardized shipping containers in the 1950s. Shipment of various cargoes in steel shipping boxes of standard sizes (20 or 40 feet long) irreversibly revolutionized maritime, road, and rail transportation. Ship sizes increased dramatically from those of the 1920s as the need for container capacity outweighed the need for personnel and passenger room. New container ships eclipsed those of the previous eras in terms of size and width.
Click on thumbnail to view larger version
Port bridge construction since the completion of the Henry Ford Bridge reflected the needs of increased truck traffic and the larger ships passing through Cerritos Channel. Improved highways around the Los Angeles area led the way for the construction of the Vincent Thomas suspension bridge in 1963, and the Gerald Desmond steel thru-arch bridge in 1968. Each of these bridges presented changes in design to benefit truck traffic to Terminal Island as well as the passage of ships around the island. While previous bridges required the interruption of either land or water traffic depending upon the position of the bridge, these new higher-decked bridges allowed the simultaneous passage of both. In addition, these new designs did not require personnel to operate the bridges and lessened the potential for accidents along heavier traveled channels. Some of the more notable characteristics associated with the Henry Ford Bascule Bridge were improved and brought up to present day standards with that bridge's replacement by the modern vertical-lift structure in 1996. (For photographs of the newest bridges to Terminal Island please see "Product.")
|
