MTA Universal Pedestrian Bridge

The MTA Universal Pedestrian Bridge is a 400-ft, L-shaped bridge that connects L.A. Metro’s Universal City Red Line Station to NBC Universal Studios.

DBM Vircon’s Scope of Work:

• Working with client Thompson Metal Fab, DBM Vircon provided 3D BrIM modeling and shop detailing of approximately 366 tons of structural steel for the new pedestrian bridge

Project Stats:

• The MTA Universal Pedestrian Bridge consists of an exposed V-section steel through-truss supported by four HSS columns with a span of nearly 150ft across Lankershim Boulevard.

MTA Universal Pedestrian Bridge Project Highlights & Challenges:

• Design for towers and stairs delayed significantly, which created layout issues for interface with the walkway structure.
• Complexity of design was too ambitious, as modeling progressed connections were reconfigured to suit what was more practical for the shop and to more sound connections.
• As mentioned above, the structure was “V” shaped and spanned between (3) street corners, basically made up of pipes most with multiple diagonal cuts. These pipes also required “T-Y-K Welds” (Pipe Prep Transition welds) and a lot of experimentation with electronic files that would work for the fabricator.
• To add to the shop weld & field connection challenges; many portions of the structure had stringent AESS requirements that had to be met.