LOS ANGELES — One of the Los Angeles harbor region's key truck links is about to go dark. Caltrans will close the Vincent Thomas Bridge, which carries State Route 47 between San Pedro and Terminal Island over the main channel of the Port of Los Angeles, to all traffic from 12:01 a.m. on November 7, 2026, for 16 months, the agency announced on October 22, according to trucking outlet CDL Crew, and its District 7 fact sheet and FAQ for fall and winter 2026-27.
Source: CDL Crew — Major Truck Route Closing for 16 Months, Oct. 23, 2026
The agency says the concrete deck of the bridge, which opened in 1963, is “severely deteriorated.” Crews will replace the deck, centre median, railing, fencing and signage and modernise other components in a project Caltrans lists at a total cost of $750 million, carried out by the joint venture of Skanska and California Engineering Contractors. The 16-month timetable assumes crews work around the clock, according to the Caltrans FAQ, and the bridge is expected to reopen in early March 2028, before the 2028 Olympic Games.
About 53,000 vehicles use the bridge daily and nearly 9% are heavy trucks, CDL Crew reported. Caltrans says detour traffic to and from Terminal Island will be sent via the Commodore Schuyler F. Heim Bridge from the north and the Gerald Desmond Bridge on I-710 from the east, using streets such as West Harry Bridges Boulevard, Alameda Street and Henry Ford Avenue, while CDL Crew lists I-710, I-110, SR-103 and Harry Bridges Boulevard as the main redirected routes. Traffic control officers will be posted at 18 key intersections as needed, and local police will expand commercial-truck enforcement around the construction area, according to the Caltrans FAQ.
Source: Caltrans District 7 — Vincent Thomas Bridge FAQ
The Port of Los Angeles says all of its terminals will remain open with no expected impact to cargo productivity, flow or capacity, and that only about 8% of port-complex drayage truck traffic uses the Vincent Thomas Bridge, while rail cargo is unaffected, though local detours may add time for truck drivers. Next door, Port of Long Beach chief executive Noel Hacegaba said at an October 15 briefing that the closure “will not affect operations here at the Port of Long Beach,” and that terminals will offer extra shifts for a six-week period around the closure, as reported by AJOT and summarised by The Southbound 105.
For Punjabi and other container truckers who haul between the twin ports, warehouses and inland terminals, the practical advice from both Caltrans and trucking coverage is the same: plan the detour before November 7, expect heavier traffic on the freeway detours and on harbor streets, and check Caltrans QuickMap for current conditions. A separate $130 million State Route 47 interchange project, led jointly by the Port of Los Angeles and Caltrans, is under construction with completion scheduled for December 2026, according to the port.
Source: The Southbound 105 — Vincent Thomas Bridge closes Nov. 7 for 16 months, Oct. 15, 2026