Henry Ford Bridge

Template:Infobox Bridge The Henry Ford Bridge, also known as the Badger Avenue Bridge, is a bridge located in Los Angeles County, Southern California. It carries the Pacific Harbor Line railroad across the Cerritos Channel to Terminal Island from San Pedro, to serve the Port of Los Angeles and Port of Long Beach. It was built to accommodate operations at the Ford Long Beach Assembly plant which opened in 1930 and was closed in 1959.

The original 1924 bascule bridge was dismantled and replaced in 1996 by a vertical-lift bridge.

Bascule bridge

File:Henry ford bridge.jpg

The 1924 Henry Ford Bridge in the half-closed position as seen in 1994.

File:Ford Bridge Schematic open-close.gif

An animation of the opening and closing sequence for the 1924 Henry Ford Bridge

File:'Frogs' which match up the rail lines on the tower and the movable span as the bridge closes. North span facing south. - Henry Ford Bridge, Spanning Cerritos Channel, Los HAER CAL,19-LOSAN,75-27.tif

'Frogs' which match up the rail lines on the tower and the movable span as the bridge closes

The contract for the bascule bridge was placed by The Los Angeles Board of Harbor Commissioners in 1922. The bridge was designed by Joseph Baermann Strauss and fabricated by the American Bridge Company.

It was formed of a pair of trunnion bascule leaves which formed a one span Warren through-truss. There were two tower spans and two timber approaches.

File:Detail of electrical contacts in the south machinery room (interior of both machinery rooms is identical). Facing south. - Henry Ford Bridge, Spanning Cerritos Channel, Los HAER CAL,19-LOSAN,75-52.tif

Detail of electrical contacts

See also

• Commodore Schuyler F. Heim Bridge
• List of bridges documented by the Historic American Engineering Record in California
• Vincent Thomas Bridge
• Bridges in Los Angeles County, California

External links

• Template:HAER

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