The Space-Frame Cadets of Long Beach

City Considers Unusual Bridge 'Something Special'

By Greg Aragon

The cyclone racer in Long Beach was a creaking wooden monster that from 1930 to 1968 ignited fear and excitement in the hearts of young and old at the historic Pike amusement center.

Glenn Reynolds turned what could have been an ordinary, 450-ft.-long pedestrian bridge into a dazzling, space-frame structure that salutes a roller coaster that was a major Long Beach attraction during the mid-1900s. (photo by Paul Napolitano)

Now it's back-sort of.

With the completion of the retro Cyclone Racer Pedestrian Bridge, Long Beach has recaptured some of that old ride's magic. The city also has a new tourist attraction and the world's first "roller coaster" bridge.

"It's an architectural icon," said Glen Reynolds, president of Long Beach-based Gossamer Space Frames, the company that designed and engineered the bridge. "I hope to see it on vacation brochures."

The 450-ft.-long, $2.5 million structure is the showpiece of the 18-acre entertainment and retail complex known as the Pike at Rainbow Harbor that opened six weeks ago. The bridge spans busy Shoreline Drive and links pedestrians to both sides of the $130 million Pike. Located between the Long Beach Convention Center and the Aquarium of the Pacific, the >>

Pike includes approximately 370,000 sq. ft. of waterfront restaurants, stores and entertainment venues.

"I knew the moment I saw the (bridge) plans that it would be something really special," said Carolyn C. Bihn, senior planner for the city's Zoning and Development Services department. "It not only is a dramatic, sculptural icon for the Long Beach Pike project, but also serves a crucial function. I can't wait to see the bridge in the background during the Grand Prix."

The Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach is an annual car race run through the closed-off streets of Long Beach.

The bridge's aluminum superstructure rolls, dips and peaks to a height of 87 ft. as it traces the outline of the classic coaster. It is held together with 1,288 pieces of aluminum pipe and connected with a patented coaxial joint. Invented by Reynolds, the joint connects pipes via threaded sleeves and couplings.

The space-frame pedestrian bridge designed by Glen Reynolds of Gossamer Space Frames is held together with 1,288 pieces of aluminum pipe and connected with a patented coaxial joint. The joint connects pipes via threaded sleeves and couplings . (photo by Paul Napolitano)

"There is no welding or bolting involved," said Reynolds, 50, who grew up in San Diego and is the son of a firefighter. "The whole bridge screws together and can be assembled and taken apart with one wrench and a couple of people."

In fact, he said that 10 people from Phoenix-based Schuff Steel Co. erected the space frame and bridge in just three weeks.

Though putting the bridge together was relatively easy, selling the idea required more than a little legwork, Reynolds said.

When construction on the Pike at Rainbow Harbor began in May 2002, the owner, San Diego-based Developers Diversified Realty, wanted a bridge with just a small, wooden roller coaster model on top. But, when Gary Noble Curtis, co-founder of Gossamer, read about the DDR plan in a local newspaper, he came up with a better idea.

"Why put an old-fashioned roller coaster on a bridge?" asked Curtis, who also put his deft engineering touch on the Queensway Bridge in Long Beach and the Seattle Space Needle.

He wanted to devise something radical that would really look dramatic, such as the façade of a roller coaster as the truss work to support the bridge itself.

After running the idea past Reynolds and their other partner, Dean Hackbarth, Curtis paid a visit to city hall and then to Irvine-based general contractor Snyder Langston. After raising a few eyebrows, he and his partners put together a bridge proposal and presentation.

Gossamer promised that its bridge would not only incorporate the roller coaster façade but also save time and money. The firm would fabricate approximately 10,000 aluminum superstructure components at its Long Beach factory and then paint and partially assemble the parts at a nearby shop before transporting the finished segments to the job for assembly.

"The whole idea of being able to manufacture this thing off site, bring it in and assemble it like a tinker toy and then walk away with it in less than a month was a really neat concept," said Karl Kreutziger, project executive for Snyder Langston. "So we started to price their design versus conventional steel-and-concrete and aluminum designs and found out that it was more economical and durable from a maintenance standpoint."

He added that the Gossamer bridge saved the developers about $500,000 or 20 percent of the original $3 million estimate.

Even so, Gossamer was still an unproven company with an unorthodox product. Snyder Langston wondered if a new company with only three people and a coaxial joint could make such a project work.

"We took a little leap of faith with them, but were very impressed with their performance," Kreutziger said.

He added that the good relationship Curtis had with the city and the overall engineering experience of the Gossamer team was too much to overlook.

Reynolds, who served six years in the Army before working with McDonnell Douglas, TEMCOR and then forming Gossamer in 1999, said he was grateful for the opportunity.

"They looked at our individual resumes instead of viewing us as a new business without many projects under our belt," said the Long Beach resident. "This is the first large-scale project that we've done, so it is really getting us some attention."

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