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Photography Area~Our Photos => Architecture / Buildings => Topic started by: Jim D on November 12, 2008, 07:08:57 PM

Title: Vincent Thomas Bridge
Post by: Jim D on November 12, 2008, 07:08:57 PM
I took this shot of the Vincent Thomas Bridge when I was in San Pedro several weeks ago. I drove around, looking for a better place to see more of this bridge, but this was the best perspective I could find.

(https://www.christianphotographers.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi80.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fj165%2Fthisnamztaken%2FVincentThomasBridge088.jpg&hash=d61a4883be4ab464215a31ae2a90f4f35d233d9a)

Wikipedia says:
The Vincent Thomas Bridge is a 1,500-foot (460 m) long suspension bridge crossing the Los Angeles Harbor in the U.S. state of California, linking San Pedro, Los Angeles, with Terminal Island. The bridge is signed as part of State Route 47. It is named for California Assemblyman Vincent Thomas of San Pedro. It is also the bridge with the 76th longest span in the world.

Throughout the bridge's construction and in the early years after its opening, it was derided as a "bridge to nowhere." In the 1970s, however, its importance drastically increased as the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach displaced those of the San Francisco Bay Area as the principal port on the West Coast. Today, the Vincent Thomas Bridge carries a considerable volume of truck traffic from the southernmost slips of the Port of Los Angeles, in San Pedro, onto the Terminal Island Freeway and eventually to the southern end of the Long Beach Freeway; from there, freight goes from the port complex to the rail yards of East Los Angeles and the Inland Empire.

(Wikipedia has a lot more information written up on it, if anyone is interested.)
Title: Re: Vincent Thomas Bridge
Post by: JudyB on November 12, 2008, 07:17:21 PM
Good work.  I suspect that the only way you could have got more of the bridge in the photo would be with an ariel view.   

Good history on the bridge as well.
Title: Re: Vincent Thomas Bridge
Post by: Summicron on November 16, 2008, 09:38:44 PM
You've framed the bridge well using the tree as a compositional counterbalance, and the sign to extend the panoramic interest of the scene. The bridge itself is a bit nondescript, lacks the grace of many modern bridges, what's the white covering on the tower?
Title: Re: Vincent Thomas Bridge
Post by: Al Moak on November 17, 2008, 10:34:04 PM
For me, it's somewhat nostalgic.  I haven't been down to the waterfront in San Pedro since 1955, when I embarked one very early morning for Catalina Island.  Good one!