Bridge-building is easy; bridge-naming is hard. And it’s something that needs to be grappled with every time someone builds a way to cross a body of water or a chasm.
The Golden Gate Bridge is a fine example of a great bridge name and the credit doesn’t go to whoever came up with the name of the bridge, but rather to John C. Fremont, who gave the name of Golden Gate to the strait over which the bridge spans, so it was really a no-brainer to give the bridge its name.
There have been a handful of other fine bridge names: The Bridge of Sighs, in Venice, Italy; France’s Pont du Gard; the Wind and Rain Bridge in China; Hell Gate in New York City.
Sometimes you don’t need to get fancy. There’s nothing wrong with the names of London Bridge or Brooklyn Bridge.
Ever since the idea of replacing Long Beach’s Gerald Desmond Bridge, the city and port have been fretting over what to call the replacement for the Gerald Desmond Bridge, and for the duration of its construction and even after its opening, it’s been informally called either the New Gerald Desmond Bridge or the Bridge to Everywhere.
Finally, the public is getting the opportunity to vote on the official name for the new bridge.
The catch: You only get three choices. Two of them are virtually the same, one is a bit over the top and none of them are spectacular.
It’s easy to complain about the choices, which is why I’m doing it, rather than coming up with a better name. I asked readers last year for suggestions and, pretty predictably, the most popular name was Bridgey McBridgeface.
I thought Bridge of Lights or Angels Gate Bridge would’ve been nice, but no one ever listens to a simple country columnist.
In a newsletter sent out by California Assemblyman Patrick O’Donnell Friday, he announced that he’s planning to introduce legislation on a permanent name of the bridge based on feedback from the community.
For your consideration:
- International Gateway Bridge
- Long Beach International Gateway Bridge—a more localized spin on Choice No. 1.
- Long Beach Transpacific Bridge—which would be great if the bridge spanned the largest ocean in the world rather than hopping across a channel in the port.
You are free to vote for the name you dislike the least by clicking here.
The feedback from the “community” that gave us these choices comes from a dozen people chosen by O’Donnell, state Senator Lena Gonzalez and Long Beach Mayor Robert Garcia, according to O’Donnell. Nothing good has ever come from a committee other than an elephant.
After a name is chosen, it will go to the state legislature and O’Donnell says he is confident the name will sail through before the end of the legislative year in early September.
One thing the “community” stayed away from was naming the bridge after someone, like Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee, which would inevitably lead to a name change a few years hence.
“The feeling was we should focus on the physical iconicness of the structure,” said O’Donnell.
There are a few bits of the new bridge that will, in fact, be named after people. The still-unfinished bike lane will be named for the late cycling advocate Mark Bixby, and O’Donnell says the observation deck off the path at the bridge’s peak, will be named after from the old bridge’s namesake, Gerald Desmond.
