The Pacific Electric Railroad Bridge or Southern Pacific Railroad Bridge now officially named the "Pacific Electric Railway- El Prado Bridge" is a historic double-tracked

arch bridge An arch bridge is a bridge with abutments at each end shaped as a curved arch. Arch bridges work by transferring the weight of the bridge and its loads partially into a horizontal thrust restrained by the abutments at either side. A viaduct ...

located in

Torrance, California Torrance is a city in the Los Angeles metropolitan area located in Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles County, California, United States. The city is part of what is known as the South Bay (Los Angeles County), South Bay region of the m ...

USA, spanning Torrance Boulevard at Bow Avenue, a short distance west of Western Avenue. It was once part of the north/south San Pedro via Gardena Line of the

Pacific Electric Railway The Pacific Electric Railway Company, nicknamed the Red Cars, was a privately owned mass transit system in Southern California consisting of electrically powered streetcars, interurban cars, and buses and was the largest electric railway system ...

, that agency's first

interurban The Interurban (or radial railway in Europe and Canada) is a type of electric railway, with streetcar-like electric self-propelled rail cars which run within and between cities or towns. They were very prevalent in North America between 1900 a ...

line to San Pedro.

is a town that was planned on the drawing board. Before 1912 there was no settlement in the area. After splitting off to the east from the Union Tool Company plant which was once a short distance south of the bridge, the line terminated at the new Torrance plant of the Llewellyn Iron Works which was opened in 1916 (and was since 1923 for most of its life a

Columbia Steel Company Columbia may refer to: * Columbia (personification), the historical female national personification of the United States, and a poetic name for America Places North America Natural features * Columbia Plateau, a geologic and geographic region in ...

plant). It ran up and over the railroad's east/west Torrance local line in much the same manner as a

viaduct A viaduct is a specific type of bridge that consists of a series of arches, piers or columns supporting a long elevated railway or road. Typically a viaduct connects two points of roughly equal elevation, allowing direct overpass across a wide v ...

and is the only part of the PE which crossed itself in such a manner; indeed, the map on the following reference link refers to the bridge as a viaduct. This was due to the area's geography; simply building a spur off of the main line would have resulted in too steep a climb to the steel mill. The steel mill has since been demolished to make way for the national headquarters of

American Honda Motor Company The American Honda Motor Company, Inc. (sometimes abbreviated as AHM) is the North American subsidiary of the Honda Motor Company. It was founded in 1959. The company combines product sales, service and coordinating functions of Honda in North ...

, but the once double-tracked Torrance line was reballasted and rerailed with used welded rail in 2003 and is still in use for local runs by the

Union Pacific Railroad The Union Pacific Railroad , legally Union Pacific Railroad Company and often called simply Union Pacific, is a freight-hauling railroad that operates 8,300 locomotives over routes in 23 U.S. states west of Chicago and New Orleans. Union Paci ...

. Gone too are the Pacific Electric's Torrance shops at the western branch of the split, now the site of an

industrial park An industrial park (also known as industrial estate, trading estate) is an area zoned and planned for the purpose of industrial development. An industrial park can be thought of as a more "heavyweight" version of a business park or office park, ...

still serviced by the aforementioned local line. Designed by

Irving Gill Irving John Gill (April 26, 1870 – October 7, 1936), was an American architect. He did most of his work in Southern California, especially in San Diego and Los Angeles. He is considered a pioneer of the modern movement in architecture. Twelve ...

and built in 1913 as part of the original layout of the city as determined by

Jared Sidney Torrance Jared Sidney Torrance (August 3, 1853 – March 29, 1921) was an American real estate developer, best known as the founder of Torrance in southwest Los Angeles County, California. Southern California Jared Torrance was born in Gowanda, New York ...

and Frederick Law Olmsted Jr., the bridge became the city's second entry in the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

on July 13, 1989 after

Torrance High School Torrance High School is a high school located in Torrance, California. Founded in 1917, it is one of the oldest high schools in continuous use in California and is the oldest of the four high schools in the Torrance Unified School District. Four of ...

. It is also listed with the California Office of Historic Preservation. The Pacific Electric Railway- El Prado Bridge, was dedicated as a Local Engineering Landmark by the American Society of Civil Engineers in 2013. Though trackage, turnouts and remnants of a switch remain on the bridge, it is no longer in use nor has it been for quite some time. There is no chance of the bridge returning to service, since the right-of-way at either end has been redeveloped. Nevertheless, the Pacific Electric Railroad Bridge has become a symbol of the city as part of the Torrance Police Department's logo as of January 1, 2000, only the third such change in the department's history.http://www.ci.torrance.ca.us/PDF/Ths0002.pdf PDF file of the February 2000 edition of the Torrance Historian

References

External links

Map and satellite view of the bridge at Archiplanet.orgModern photos of the bridge including the tracks at Reprise.com
{{Los Angeles County, California Bridges in Los Angeles County, California Buildings and structures in Torrance, California Pacific Electric infrastructure Railroad bridges in California Former railway bridges in the United States Bridges completed in 1913 Railroad bridges on the National Register of Historic Places in California Buildings and structures on the National Register of Historic Places in Los Angeles County, California 1913 establishments in California Concrete bridges in California Irving Gill buildings Modernist architecture in California Arch bridges in the United States

See also

References

External links