The Gerald Desmond Bridge is a through arch bridge that carries four lanes of Ocean Boulevard from Interstate 710

Interstate 710

Interstate 710 is a major north–south interstate freeway running for 23 miles through Los Angeles County, California...

 in Long Beach, California

Long Beach, California

Long Beach is a city situated in Los Angeles County in Southern California, on the Pacific coast of the United States. The city is the 36th-largest city in the nation and the seventh-largest in California. As of 2010, its population was 462,257...

, west across the Cerritos Channel to Terminal Island

Terminal Island

Terminal Island is an island located in Los Angeles County, California between Los Angeles Harbor and Long Beach Harbor. Originally a mudflat known to the Spanish as Isla Raza de Buena Gente, and later called Rattlesnake Island, it has officially been Terminal Island since 1918...

. The bridge is named after Gerald Desmond

Gerald Desmond

Gerald "Jerry" Desmond was a prominent Democratic politician and civic leader in Long Beach, California who served as a Long Beach City Councilmember and as Long Beach City Attorney....

, a prominent civic leader and a former city attorney for the City of Long Beach.

The bridge was designed by Moffatt & Nichol Engineers and was constructed by Bethlehem Steel Corporation. Intended to replace a pontoon bridge which had been in use since World War Two, ground-breaking for the construction of the new bridge occurred on October 19, 1965, and it was completed in 1968.