“HARBORGEDDEN!” Wilmington Residents Clash with Caltrans Over Vincent Thomas Bridge Future

By Rosie Knight, Columnist

In the echoing hall of the Wilmington Recreation Center, Caltrans representatives and local community members met to discuss the fate of San Pedro’s iconic Vincent Thomas Bridge. Since 2023 Caltrans has been trying to get public feedback on the extensive repairs that the bridge — built in 1963 — needs and how they should be enacted. 

The May 30 meeting was part of the 90-day public notice circulation and was only offered after the community requested it from the state transportation department. After a virtual comment session, Caltrans planned two in-person meetings and it’s clear that the last-minute push for attendees via social media and local news like KTLA worked. The turnout for the meeting was relatively large 80 people in attendance, but the Caltrans name-tagged representatives and other groups were a significant part of that number. 

As attendees walked around the hall looking at large slides laying out the plans before the meeting, a pair of Wilmington residents asked a key question: If the concrete on the bridge was in such dire need of repair — there was a slide displaying photos of the surface of the bridge to showcase what needed to be repaired — why the streets in their neighborhoods weren’t being fixed as well? “Those look just like our streets,” one told me with a roll of her eyes. 

That would be a recurring theme throughout the night as Wilmington residents rightfully and often powerfully asked where the investment in their community was when it would be the most impacted by the plans to shut down the Vincent Thomas Bridge temporarily. 

Caltrans laid out four potential options for the construction. Single-stage would mean the bridge shut down for 16 to 41 months, depending on detours and whether there’s around-the-clock construction. 

Two-Stage would be a partial closure for up to 25 months with one lane open in each direction during daytime, multiple weekend closures, and full closure at nighttime. 

Three-Stage would be partial closure up to 32 months with one lane open in each direction during daytime, multiple weekend closures, and full closure at nighttime. 

The last option is the Night Time Bridge Closure, in which the bridge would be fully open during daytime traffic hours (6 am-7 pm) and fully closed during nighttime hours (7 pm – 6 am) every day for up to 48 months. 

Councilmember Tim McOsker gave a rousing speech after Caltrans finished their rather rote presentation, promising residents he would hold Caltrans accountable and make some interesting suggestions. McOsker pointedly noted that if Caltrans wanted to speed up the process, the state department could help fund the repair of roadways like Alameda Street. 

“If you do not want the bridge project to compete or overlap or be in conflict with other projects,” McOsker said, “you can pay the city. You can pay the contractor to work double, or triple shifts, and you can help us finish those projects earlier.” 

He also coined a catchy name for the inevitable traffic chaos that the closure of Vincent Thomas Bridge will bring: “Harborgedden!” A name inspired by the two-weekend closures of the 405 Freeway in 2011 and 2012. 

“We all remember Carmageddon, right? When the whole world freaked out because Westside LA might get delayed on their way to their yoga appointments.” 

The Councilmember invoked that iconic LA disaster to call for equal treatment for the Harbor Area. 

“We’re going to be looking at all of those documents and have the same standard of care as if this was the Westside of LA. So the amount of money that goes into consultants and people who are going to be getting on the radio and getting on TV and talking about it and pulling their hair out and worrying about it, we’re going to have that same standard of care because we deserve it, every bit of it.” 

Though McOsker set the tone, it was Wilmington Neighborhood Council President Gina Martinez who really turned up the pressure on Caltrans. With many of her fellow council members yielding their time to her, she fearlessly advocated for her community while highlighting serious issues with Caltrans’ Environmental Impact Report beginning with the fact that it was written by people who, upon putting it together, had never been to Wilmington. 

“Upon our review of the draft, it’s apparent that there was very little consideration given to the impact of how this project would affect the community of Wilmington,” Martinez began before laying out some of the community’s biggest issues with the report. 

“It is unambiguously, unequivocally, and undisputedly clear that is the goal of Caltrans to route virtually almost every truck and car that would have gone over the Vincent Thomas Bridge straight through Wilmington. This is a blatant disregard for this underprivileged and disadvantaged small community of color. It is the position of this council that the best option for Wilmington is Single-Stage construction. Would we rather be inconvenienced for one year or four?” 

Martinez also noted some major flaws in the EIR including the fact that it listed intersections that didn’t exist, confusing roads that were parallel to each other, as well as the fact that it listed traffic impacts for Long Beach, Los Angeles, Torrance, and San Pedro but not Wilmington. 

The comments came to an emotional close when a Wilmington resident named Martha took the mic and shared her frustrations at the lack of care and thought that goes into the way the city and the people who live there are treated. 

“We already have people with asthma, allergies, and many people with cancer. My son is going through cancer right now. Where is the care? Where is the protection? We don’t have any mitigation against poor air quality because we are a Hispanic community. We need respect.” 

If you weren’t able to attend the Caltrans feedback meeting in Wilmington then the second in-person meeting will take place on Thursday, June 13, from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. at Peck Park Community Center, 560 N. Western Ave, San Pedro, CA 90732.

Caltrans to Host a Virtual Public Meeting for a Multimodal Project on Western Avenue from San Pedro to Torrance

Los Angeles – The California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) will host a virtual
public meeting on a multimodal pavement project along Western Avenue (State Route
213) from 25th Street in San Pedro to Interstate 405 (I-405) in Torrance. The project will
include bike lanes, upgraded crosswalks, bicycle-oriented signboards, curb ramps and
sidewalks.

Who: Caltrans personnel, residents, community members, and neighborhood
organizations

When: Wednesday, June 12 from 6:00 pm to 7:00 pm

Where: Via Webex: bit.ly/westernwebex, password: westernavenue

What: Caltrans will host a public virtual meeting to inform South Bay resid