Gold Line 'Basket Bridge' Over 210 Freeway in Arcadia Wins Prestigious Award

The 584-foot Gold Line Bridge near Baldwin Avenue in Arcadia over the 210 Freeway won “Best Project in Southern California” for highways and bridges Thursday from Engineering News-Record, according to the San Gabriel Valley Tribune.

The bridge, distinctive due to the large baskets on it that represent woven baskets used by native American people who once thrived in the San Gabriel Valley, was completed about a year ago.  

“It’s an honor to receive these awards, and to be recognized in the engineering and construction industry for the Gold Line Bridge,” said Habib F. Balian, CEO of the Construction Authority, in a statement.  “The bridge is being recognized for not only its’ artistic beauty, but also the challenges that were overcome to design and build the bridge over an active freeway and an earthquake fault.”

The Construction Authority also said the following in a press release

In addition to being the most visible element of the light rail extension, the Gold Line Bridge also holds distinctions amongst infrastructure projects in California as the first ever artist-designed transit bridge and as the largest, single public art/transit infrastructure project. The on-budget, $18.6 million project was designed by award-winning public artist Andrew Leicester, who then worked alongside design-builder Skanska USA and Los Angeles-based design consultant AECOM to ensure the final design and construction were true to the overall vision.

“It took a significant amount of pre-planning and a very talented team from the Construction Authority and Skanksa USA and AECOM, our contractor, to take the design and make it a buildable reality,” added Balian. “It also took the cooperation and partnership of multiple agencies – including Caltrans and Metro – to allow us to do something unique and very different from what they are used to. We are very proud of the final bridge and the work now underway to bring light rail further into the San Gabriel Valley.”

The SGV Tribune also reported that the bridge has received four other prestigious awards: 2013 Engineering Achievement Award from the American Council of Engineering Companies; Outstanding Public Civil Engineering Transportation Project over $10 million from The American Society of Civil Engineers; the 2013 Project Achievement Award from the Construction Management Association of America and the Distinguished Project Award from the Western Council of Construction Consumers.