LONG BEACH : Terminal Island Rail Link to Be Replaced
Tugboats and pleasure craft that travel under the Badger Avenue Bridge as a shortcut to Long Beach will have to go around Terminal Island for five months during bridge construction, a Port of Long Beach spokesman said.
The bridge, which crosses Cerritos Channel at Henry Ford Avenue, will be torn down or relocated this year to make way for a $30-million vertical-lift bridge. The new bridge is needed to cope with an expected increase in rail traffic to and from ship container terminals on Terminal Island, spokesman Jeff Leong said.
The Badger Avenue Bridge is the only rail link to the island. The port built the 760-foot crossing--a double drawbridge also known as the Henry Ford Bridge--in 1924.
The Harbor Board last week approved the project for the new bridge, which is designed to meet seismic standards. Construction is expected to begin at the end of the year.
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