Vincent Thomas Bridge
Coordinates: 33 ° 44 ′ 58 ″ N , 118 ° 16 ′ 18 ″ W.
| Vincent Thomas Bridge | ||
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| Crossing of | Los Angeles Harbor | |
| place | San Pedro and Terminal Island | |
| Entertained by | Caltrans | |
| construction | Suspension bridge | |
| overall length | 1848.3 m | |
| Longest span | 457.5 m | |
| height | 111 m | |
| vehicles per day | 32,000 | |
| opening | November 15, 1963 | |
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The Vincent Thomas Bridge is a slightly less than two kilometers long suspension bridge with a main span of 457.5 m, which crosses the port of Los Angeles and connects the town of San Pedro with Terminal Island on California State Route 47 . The bridge is named after Vincent Thomas (1907–1980). He was an American, Democratic politician who was once the California MP for the San Pedro constituency.
During construction and in the early years after its completion, the structure was often referred to as the "bridge to nowhere". In the 1970s, however, their importance increased significantly when the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach replaced the ports of the San Francisco Bay Area as the main hubs for ocean freight on the west coast. Today the bridge handles much of the traffic from the southern districts of the Port of San Pedro to the Terminal Island Freeway and then eventually to the south end of the Long Beach Freeway ; from there, freight is transported to the freight yards in East Los Angeles and Inland Empire .
When the bridge opened in 1963, the toll was 25 cents each way. In 1983 the fee was increased to 50 cents for westbound traffic, the opposite direction became free of charge. In 2000 the toll was abolished.
The Catalina Terminal (Berth 95), the departure point for all ferries and helicopter connections to Santa Catalina Island from San Pedro , is located below the western part of the bridge.
The bridge was the scene of a chase in the film Just 60 Seconds Left with Nicolas Cage and in a scene in Charlie's Angels in which Cameron Diaz and Crispin Glover drive two racing cars towards each other. Also Live and Die in LA (1985) makes extensive use of the bridge, as well as the film Shelter (2007).
On August 19, 2012, British film director Tony Scott threw himself to death from her after climbing over the 5.5-meter high security fence that had been installed to prevent suicides.
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Individual evidence
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Upstream Henry Ford Bridge |
Crossings of the Port of Los Angeles |
Downstream none ( Pacific Ocean ) |