Gerald Desmond Bridge, Port of Long Beach

The Gerald Desmond Bridge carries approximately 15% of the nation’s cargo and is critical to the economic vitality of Southern California. Due to unanticipated high traffic volumes and congestion, the bridge has been slowly deteriorating over the years. The port has proposed the construction of a new $1.3bn road bridge across the Back Channel in the Port of Long Beach that can accommodate the next generation of container ships. Scheduled for completion in 2018 the bridge will be the first cable-stayed transportation bridge in California.

This is a major project with additional complexity: the alignment of the new bridge conflicted with nearly 50 separate existing facilities including abandoned and operating oil wells and the Port’s former maintenance yard. Relocation of more than 10 miles of utility lines would require a significant amount of third party coordination before construction of the new bridge could begin. Arcadis was selected to provide direct assistance and support to the Port's staff during the design, procurement, and construction phases of the project, including:

• Coordination and project management of third-party utility relocations for the $300 million utility relocation program. Electrical, water, oil wells and infrastructure, gas, rail, and communication utilities exist within the project boundaries. Many of these need to be located and then abandoned or relocated to allow construction of the new bridge foundations or roadways. Operational oil wells also need to be relocated.
• Environmental support that encompasses: environmental compliance management, environmental mitigation measure and verification, hazardous waste management, contaminated soil management and storm water management.

Arcadis’s extensive experience managing utility coordination, along with our knowledge and relationships with the local Long Beach utilities and stakeholders, has greatly facilitated the coordination required and kept the program on schedule. 

Arcadis has successfully procured the design and build contractor for this project under budget, resulting in significant savings.