One year ago, Congress defunded public media. Now that we're 100% community funded, please become a sustaining member or increase your existing membership today.
This is an archival story that predates current editorial management.
This archival content was written, edited, and published prior to LAist's acquisition by its current owner, Southern California Public Radio ("SCPR"). Content, such as language choice and subject matter, in archival articles therefore may not align with SCPR's current editorial standards. To learn more about those standards and why we make this distinction, please click here.
Happy Crossings! Local Bridges Deemed Generally Safe
Photo by LU5H.bunny via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr
If your commute includes a drive over one of the hundreds of bridges in Los Angeles, you can breathe a sigh of relief: Our bridges are pretty much safe! A report issued today by the city's Bureau of Engineering includes letter grades for all of our area bridges, and fortunately, none of them got an F,according to CBS2.
Older bridges, built in the 20s and 30s, weren't made to withstand earthquakes, but still might not collapse, but will more likely "have localized damage, like the railing may be knocked off, but the bridge may not collapse," in a significant temblor, says Shailesh “Sunny” Patel of the bureau's Structural Engineering Division.
24 bridges received a D grade, which means "poor," though more than half earned an A, a quarter earned a B, and over 100 were marked as average, with C grades. Overall, Patel says "our bridge system is at C-minus, which is not really bad considering half of our bridges are above designed life expectancy of about 50 years."
One year ago, Congress voted to defund public media, eliminating a critical $1.7 million from our budget every year going forward. But they couldn’t silence us, and we’re not going anywhere. LAist is now 100% community funded and that means we’re taking our future into our own hands and turning to you to keep local reporting strong.
You come to LAist because you want independent reporting and trustworthy local information. Our nonprofit newsroom doesn’t answer to shareholders looking to turn a profit. Instead, we answer to you and our communities. We are free to follow facts wherever they lead and to hold power to account without fear or favor. Our only loyalty is to our readers and listeners and our mission: to inform, engage, and strengthen Southern California’s communities.
If this story helped you, please become a monthly member today to help sustain this mission. It just takes 1 minute to donate below.
You come to LAist because you want independent reporting and trustworthy local information. Our nonprofit newsroom doesn’t answer to shareholders looking to turn a profit. Instead, we answer to you and our communities. We are free to follow facts wherever they lead and to hold power to account without fear or favor. Our only loyalty is to our readers and listeners and our mission: to inform, engage, and strengthen Southern California’s communities.
If this story helped you, please become a monthly member today to help sustain this mission. It just takes 1 minute to donate below.
Senior Vice President News, Editor in Chief
