The Vincent Thomas Bridge will be closed overnight this week as preparations ramp up for a deck replacement project that launches Nov. 1 and will close the bridge for 16 months in San Pedro on Monday, September 14, 2026. (Photo by Drew A. Kelley, Press-Telegram/SCNG)
The Vincent Thomas Bridge will be closed overnight this week as preparations ramp up for a deck replacement project that launches Nov. 1 and will close the bridge for 16 months in Long Beach on Monday, September 14, 2026. (Photo by Drew A. Kelley, Press-Telegram/SCNG)
The Vincent Thomas Bridge will be closed overnight this week as preparations ramp up for a deck replacement project that launches Nov. 1 and will close the bridge for 16 months in San Pedro on Monday, September 14, 2026. (Photo by Drew A. Kelley, Press-Telegram/SCNG)
View of the San Pedro side of the Vincent Thomas Bridge. (Photo by Dean Musgrove, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
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The Vincent Thomas Bridge will be closed overnight this week as preparations ramp up for a deck replacement project that launches Nov. 1 and will close the bridge for 16 months in San Pedro on Monday, September 14, 2026. (Photo by Drew A. Kelley, Press-Telegram/SCNG)
Overnight closures of the northbound Vincent Thomas Bridge — State Route 47, between Harbor Boulevard and Ferry Street — will take place this week because of construction.
The closures will take place from 10:45 p.m. to 6:45 a.m. through Friday, restricting all eastern travel across the bridge toward Long Beach.
The northbound SR-47 on-ramps at Gaffey and Channel streets — and the southbound Interstate 110 Freeway to northbound SR-47 connector — will also be closed during the overnight lane closures.
During the northbound overnight closures, traffic will be detoured via Pacific Coast Highway to Route 103 to Route 47.
Construction activities include installing working platforms and structural bracing beneath the roadway. That work is part of the preliminary stages on the 1,500-foot suspension bridge, which will fully close for 16 months beginning Nov. 1 to replace the deck on the 1963 span that runs over the shipping channel at the Port of Los Angeles, and links San Pedro to Terminal Island.
The deck replacement project, costing $752.8 million, will require partial and full closures of the bridge over the next two years. Information about the project, along with the most current schedule, can be found on the Caltrans website.
Discussions and research, meanwhile, are underway by the port, the city of Los Angeles and Caltrans to build a new bridge over the course of the next decade that would be taller and wider to accommodate larger ships passing below and increasing traffic on the roadway.
The condition of the current deck, or roadway, however, was in need of immediate replacement, requiring that project to move for forward despite a new bridge eventually being built. While the deck has been repaired frequently over the years, Caltrans officials said, that solution was no longer viable, as the damage was becoming too extreme, requiring the full deck replacement.
The Vincent Thomas Bridge would remain open during the course of the time needed to construct a larger bridge parallel to it, officials have said.
In February, Caltrans announced it had awarded a $534 million contract to a global construction and development firm for work to replace the deck on the Vincent Thomas Bridge in the Los Angeles Harbor.
The contract was awarded to Skanska.
The long-anticipated closure period that will be needed to complete the work, Port of Los Angeles Executive Director Gene Seroka said on Feb. 12, is now tentatively estimated to last from November to March 2028.
The project — through a joint venture with California Engineering Contractors — is a modernization effort that is designed to “reinforce the bridge’s role in supporting regional mobility and economic activity for generations to come,” according to a news release from Skanska earlier this year.
The total cost of the entire project, overseen by Caltrans, is estimated at more than $700 million. Of that, $534 million has been allocated to Skanska-CEC Joint Venture for the construction of the deck replacement, according to Caltrans.
The work is needed to replace the aging bridge deck with durable precast, pre-stressed concrete deck panels, which are engineered for extended service life, improved load capacity, and resilience against harsh marine conditions, such as saltwater spray and corrosive coastal winds.