Julie Allen, Program Manager for the City of Los Angeles Bureau of Engineering’s Sixth Street Viaduct Replacement Project, has been named 2017 Woman of Distinction by the Women’s Transportation Seminar, Los Angeles (WTS-LA). Each year, WTS-LA, an organization dedicated to building the future of transportation in Los Angeles through the advancement of women, chooses a woman who has exemplified the organization’s values of excellence. Allen will accept the award at WTS-LA's annual awards dinner on November 9, 2017.

Allen is a Principal Civil Engineer for the Bureau of Engineering and the program manager for the $482 million Sixth Street Viaduct Replacement Project, the largest bridge project in the history of the City.

Allen is only the second woman to hold the title of Project Manager III, the highest level of project manager at Engineering. When Allen took over the project, she was the only woman engineer on the Sixth Street Viaduct team. She has since added other women and also participates in Engineering’s mentoring program.

In addition to her role as a mentor, Allen regularly coordinates tours for Los Angeles youth, in an effort to expose youth from low-income communities to the field of engineering. 

On October 19th, Congressmember Jimmy Gomez toured the Sixth Street Viaduct project site with Program Manager Julie Allen and other members of the viaduct team.

Rep. Gomez recently became the representative for the 34th District, home to the Viaduct, in a special election held when Xavier Beccera left the seat to become California's Attorney General.

Rep. Gomez and his staff toured the construction site and were given a briefing on the project.

The $482 million dollar project is the largest bridge project in the history of the city. It is funded primarily through the Federal Highway Administration, with additional City support. 

The Sixth Street Viaduct team met an exciting milestone last month, when they completed the retaining wall on the west side of the LA River. It was critical to complete this part of the project ahead of the rainy season in Los Angeles, which officially begins in mid-October. At that time, major construction activities in the river conclude as a way to prevent harm to workers and damage to equipment should there be a flash flood.

The retaining wall was designed to provide structural support to the railroad tracks next to the river. The wall will also support the new bridge foundations that will be constructed on the west bank. 

It took several months for the temporary shoring, excavation, wall construction, and restoration of the channel lining to be completed. The new retaining wall spans across the LA River access tunnel with open beams to allow more natural light to enter the tunnel.

It was a race against the clock to complete the retaining wall but we did it!

The Sixth Street Viaduct Replacement Project is a new, 3,500-foot long viaduct connecting Boyle Heights and the Arts District across the Los Angeles River. The original viaduct was built in 1932, but had significantly deteriorated due to "concrete cancer"; it was demolished in 2016. The new viaduct will have ten pairs of lit arches, bike lanes and wider sidewalks, along with stairway access and bike ramps connecting to 12 acres of recreational and open space under the bridge. The $482 million dollar project is the largest bridge project in the history of the city. The bridge is funded primarily through the Federal Highway Administration, with additional City support. The viaduct is expected to be completed by the end of 2020.

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The Bureau of Engineering is the City's lead agency for the planning, design and construction management of the City's public buildings and its public infrastructure. Engineering is also responsible for managing permitting for all construction that takes place in the public right-of-way, as well as managing the City's state-of-the-art online mapping system, NavigateLA. Engineering is committed to designing and building environmentally-sustainable projects that include extensive community input. Engineering projects and services support the City's goals of creating a prosperous, livable and safe city for all residents and businesses.

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