Vincent Thomas Bridge

The two westbound lanes of the Vincent Thomas Bridge in San Pedro will be closed from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Sunday for a bicycle ride sponsored by the Redondo Riviera Rotary Club. The Harbor Boulevard off-ramp from the bridge will also be closed during these hours. About 1,500 bicyclists are expected to participate in the ride, which will begin in the Hollywood Riviera section of Redondo Beach and will include crossing the Vincent Thomas Bridge.

Ahmed M. Abdel-Ghaffar, a USC professor of engineering whose pioneering work in the design and monitoring of bridges led to the development of more efficient and reliable ways to build them, has died. He was 60. Abdel-Ghaffar died April 17 at Torrance Memorial Medical Center from complications of liver disease, said his son Samy of San Francisco. As a graduate student at Caltech in the early 1970s, Abdel-Ghaffar conducted seminal research on the Vincent Thomas Bridge, which links San Pedro to Terminal Island.

All lanes of the Vincent Thomas Bridge in San Pedro will be closed until 5 a.m. Monday for seismic retrofitting. It is the second of 20 extended weekend closures scheduled between now and March. Crews will be working on the suspended span portion of the roadway. The project involves foundation and roadway work and includes widening the footings and encasing columns with steel and concrete.

Los Angeles port officials said Monday that a ship collided with the Vincent Thomas Bridge over the weekend because an onboard crane was left extended -- not because the bridge was too low. They said they were more concerned about the potential for problems as truck traffic on the bridge increases.

Caltrans announced plans Friday to begin a $26-million reinforcement of the Vincent Thomas Bridge intended to sustain the 6,000-foot-long span between San Pedro and Terminal Island during a major earthquake. Construction crews plan to begin encasing the bridge's supports next week in steel and concrete, delaying until August work that will involve closing traffic lanes for up to a weekend at a time.

The first of 20 weekend closures on the Vincent Thomas Bridge in Los Angeles Harbor are scheduled to begin next week as part of a $26-million seismic retrofitting project, Caltrans announced Tuesday. Two westbound lanes and possibly one eastbound lane on the 34-year-old bridge are set to close from 8 p.m. May 29 until 5 a.m. June 1, Caltrans spokeswoman Patricia Reid said. Motorists are advised to use alternative routes while bridge lanes are closed.

Ignoring three witnesses, a 32-year-old man scaled a fence along the Vincent Thomas Bridge in San Pedro, flung off his motorcycle helmet and leaped 250 feet to his death Monday morning, police said. The man, whose name was being held pending family notification, landed on a shipping terminal dock at the Port of Los Angeles shortly after 11 a.m., Police Lt. Jim McNair said. Police said he was carrying cigarettes, a checkbook and a driver's license with a West Hollywood address.

As part of a $26-million seismic retrofitting on the Vincent Thomas Bridge that connects San Pedro to Terminal Island, the eastbound right lane will be closed today from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. Saturday, a Caltrans spokeswoman said. The closure is part of a project that has been underway since April, and is expected to be completed by the end of next year. The same lane will be closed again Feb. 20. The closures are in addition to ongoing closures of the same lane from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m.

A "massive chain-reaction collision" involving 30 cars and as many as 14 separate accidents shut down traffic on the Vincent Thomas Bridge in San Pedro for 2 1/2 hours early Tuesday, according to the California Highway Patrol. Despite the amount of property damage--one CHP officer described it as "just a mass of damaged vehicles pointed in all directions"--no one was seriously injured. The bumper-car-style pileup began at 5:45 a.m. when one car rear-ended another.

Next year, the Vincent Thomas Bridge in San Pedro could be aglow with lights if a plan proposed by a Los Angeles City Council on Tuesday wins final city approval. Councilman Rudy Svorinich Jr. of San Pedro said the Vincent Thomas span will serve as the city's "welcoming monument," much like the Golden Gate in San Francisco and the Brooklyn Bridge in New York.

A crane on a cargo ship struck the center span of the Vincent Thomas Bridge in San Pedro on Sunday afternoon, causing minor damage and shutting down ship and vehicle traffic for two hours. Officials said the four-lane bridge, which connects San Pedro and Terminal Island, was closed for inspection about 4:45 p.m., shortly after the incident was reported.

Heights don't always scare those at Morning Briefing headquarters. Traversing the enclosed catwalk to the press box high in Calgary's Pengrowth Saddledome was fairly angst-free, as were drives over the Vincent Thomas Bridge in San Pedro. Driving over bridges is one thing. Climbing them is another. Now for $59 during the day, and $79 at night, brave folks can climb over the top of Purple People Bridge (official name: Newport Southbank Bridge) linking Cincinnati to Newport, Ky.

It rises 35 stories above the nation's busiest port, a sea-green landmark for ships arriving in Los Angeles from around the world. By day, an average of 48,000 cars and trucks travel its four lanes; by night, its shimmering royal blue lights form a gateway to the maritime communities of San Pedro and Wilmington.

The Vincent Thomas Bridge in San Pedro finally got its lights Sunday -- and with them, a new dose of respect. At least that is the hope of the locals in the broad-shouldered port neighborhood who have been fighting for the last 17 years to light the third-longest suspension bridge in California. The 160 baby-blue lights, strung along the length of the 2.

Efforts to protect the Bay Area's biggest bridges against a massive earthquake took a small step forward on Thursday when state officials demonstrated strong-motion monitoring devices on a new suspension bridge across the Carquinez Strait northeast of San Francisco. In the event of an earthquake, the 130 instruments would convey to state authorities an immediate assessment of the intensity of shaking along the $500-million bridge, which will carry westbound traffic from Sacramento toward San Francisco.

In deference to a pair of peregrine falcons, the long-awaited addition of decorative lights on the Vincent Thomas Bridge will wait until next summer so that the birds can mate and nest in peace. Supporters of the lights had hoped to see the outline of the region's largest suspension bridge glimmering with small blue lights by New Year's Eve. They believe the display will help transform the little-known bridge across Los Angeles Harbor into a citywide landmark.

It rises 35 stories above the nation's busiest port, a sea-green landmark for ships arriving in Los Angeles from around the world. By day, an average of 48,000 cars and trucks travel its four lanes; by night, its shimmering royal blue lights form a gateway to the maritime communities of San Pedro and Wilmington.

Louis Dominguez imagines it this way: tens of thousands of visitors waiting at dusk throughout San Pedro, at balustrades and restaurants, atop cliffs, aboard sailboats rocking gently in the harbor. All at once, the Vincent Thomas Bridge emerges from the shadows. Tiny blue lights outline the massive cables of Southern California's longest suspension bridge. Finally, the bridge -- and San Pedro -- get the attention they are due.

Gov. Gray Davis warned Thursday of a "credible" terrorist threat against major bridges in California, including the Golden Gate Bridge and the Vincent Thomas Bridge in San Pedro, but federal officials called the threats "uncorroborated" and expressed annoyance with the governor. "He certainly didn't get in contact with us," said one senior Bush administration official, who added that the White House also was unhappy with Davis' actions.