Calls for design adjustments to 6th Street Bridge as takeovers, other stunts continue
It hasn't been two weeks since the 6th Street Bridge in downtown Los Angeles opened, and already it's plagued with problems, like street takeovers, graffiti, people climbing on the arches and even getting haircuts in the middle of the bridge.
VIDEO: Man gets haircut in middle of new 6th Street Bridge
Now, there are already calls for some design adjustments.
Dashcam video recorded the sound of a parked Toyota truck being rear ended on the new viaduct bridge early Friday morning, following a string of crashes and illegal stunts that have been captured on camera since the 6th Street bridge opened.
The bridge connects downtown LA to Boyle Heights, home to Ryan Carreon's family business since the 1960's.
Carreon said in recent years, investments have been made in his neighborhood. So, he's concerned that images of cars peeling out may hurt future improvement plans.
"I hope they'll continue to do that and it won't have, you know, like them putting in something nice and then them messing it up and then saying it's not worth putting there," he told CBSLA.
A group of classic low-riders helped to celebrate the bridge's opening and LA's car culture, but University of California Los Angeles History Professor Eric Avila said the desire to showoff on camera has nothing to do with car culture, and he hopes there's not a repeat of what happened when drag racers disrupted the cruising on Whittier Boulevard in East LA long ago.
"In the '50's and '60's, county sheriffs used these examples of drag racing to shutdown Whittier Boulevard for, you know, like an entire day over the weekend to prevent the kind of pedestrian life, the kind of pedestrian activity that was so popular," he said.
Avila also said street takeovers are everywhere, not just the bridge, a point that Rolando Cruz wanted to make.
Cruz is part of a group known as the Boyle Heights Bridge Runners, which crossed the bridge on opening day.
"There are always going to be bad apples. There's always going to be that one person that's going to try to ruin it, but I think collectively, if we come together, we can definitely monitor that behavior and really kind of check it, like, 'Hey, this is our home and it's not a playground,'" Cruz told CBSLA.
The Los Angeles Police Department said it's working with the Department of Transportation to explore engineering options to prevent more street takeovers on the bridge, and released the following statement:
"The Los Angeles Police Department is committed to addressing all illegal activity associated with the 6th Street Viaduct. Operations Central Bureau has directed the Central and Hollenbeck Areas to work in conjunction with Central Traffic Division's Street Racing Task Force to address all illegal activity occurring on the 6th Street Bridge. Enforcement actions will result in citations being issued to Street Racing violators as well as spectators contributing to the street take overs. Any information garnered from these incidents may result in the judicial seizures of vehicles engaged in street racing with a 30 day hold. The Department is also consulting with the Department of Transportation to explore any engineering that can be placed on the bridge to prevent the activity occurring during these street takeovers. Additionally, "No Stopping Anytime" signs are clearly posted on the bridge and need to be adhered to avoid citation issuance and/or vehicle impounds. Please keep traffic moving at all times and be safe. Parking with view/filming location is available at the southwest corner of Boyle Avenue and Whittier Boulevard."
On Friday night, police shutdown the bridge to traffic in both directions after a crash occurred on the bridge.