CITY OF LOS ANGELES/US ARMY CORPS OF ENGINEERS FROM THE LOS ANGELES RIVER DRAFT ECO SYSTEM RESTORATION INTEGRATED FEASIBILITY REPORT, RENDERNINGS BY MIA LEHRER, ASSOCIATES AND NUVIS, COURTESY OF TETRA TECH

The Sixth Street Bridge is an iconic
Los Angeles landmark that crosses
over the Los Angeles River between
Boyle Heights and the Arts District.
The concrete used in the bridge's
construction is deteriorating due to
"concrete cancer" (alkali-silica reac-
tion), and it needs to be replaced.
The Los Angeles Bureau of Engineer-
ing initially wanted to contract Cal-
trans, the state agency charged with
managing California's transportation
infrastructure, to produce a replica
of the current Sixth Street Bridge.
Lewis MacAdams and Alex Ward of
FoLAR spent three and a half years
lobbying for an international design

competition instead. The bureau
eventually agreed, and the winner
was announced in 2012. The $401
million project will be paid for with
federal highway funds and some state
and county money; the project is cur-
rently in the schematic design and
costing phase. The winning proposal,
by HNTB, with Michael Maltzan Ar-
chitecture, Inc., AC Martin, and Har-
greaves Associates, is a linear viaduct
and bridge with repeating ribbonlike
concrete arches.

Public access and use of the river
are important elements of revitaliza-
tion efforts, but critical to ecosystem

restoration is widening the channel,
creating riparian habitat corridors,
and reestablishing hydrologic con-
nections between the river and its his-
toric wash. The master plan and the
ARBOR study both identify several
"opportunity areas" along the river,
including Taylor Yard, Cornfields/
Los Angeles State Historic Park, and
Piggyback Yard, and many of the
restoration proposals focus on these
sites. Taylor Yard is the parcel of land
sandwiched between the river and
Rio de Los Angeles State Park and
is the most upstream location where
the Army Corps of Engineers has
proposed the removal of concrete.

ABOVE

At Piggyback Yard, part of the existing concrete channel will be removed to allow the river to reconnect with its historic wash.

BELOW

Taylor Yard will reestablish important hydrologic and habitat connections.

LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE MAGAZINE APR 2014 / 1