The Long Beach International Gateway is a 2,700-meter-long bridge, with a main span of 330 meters, two side spans about 150 meters long, Its two main support towers, approximately 160 meters tall, make it the tallest bridge of its kind in the United States — and one of the highest bridges in the USA overall.
Another unique feature is the height of its span, positioned 62 meters above sea level, allowing the passage of large ships. Its three lanes in each direction, for a total of six (plus a fourth emergency lane), can accommodate the passage of 68,000 vehicles per day, equal to about 18 million crossings per year.
According to data from the California Department of Transportation, the International Gateway Bridge is a lifeline for California’s economy, as 40% of all imports into the state pass through this infrastructure.
Long Beach, with 50 kilometers of coastline and numerous docks dedicated to Neo Panamax container ships, could not previously accommodate these large vessels due to the old bridge, the Gerald Desmond, which was too low relative to sea level and thus an obstacle for super ships. Hence, Hence the decision for a new infrastructure construction and the demolition of the existing one, without ever interrupting marine traffic, just as was done during the construction of the new Panama Canal, where a new system of locks, three times larger in capacity, was built alongside the century-old one without ever halting maritime transit.
