Span shut Friday night to early Monday morning, July 7-10 The westbound side of the Gerald Desmond Bridge in Long Beach will close for a full weekend -- 9 p.m. Friday, July 7, to 5 a.m. Monday, July 10 -- and motorists should plan to take an alternate route. Several other routes will be available to reach San Pedro and the rest of the South Bay from the Long Beach area, such as Anaheim Street, Pacific Coast Highway and the 405 Freeway. Motorists will be able to access Pico Avenue, but it should be avoided by anyone not trying to reach locations in the Port and Harbor District. Drivers heading west from downtown Long Beach should take either the 710 north or other northbound thoroughfares and then head west to avoid the Desmond Bridge area. Likewise, San Pedro-bound motorists heading south on the 710 will need to exit to an alternate route, well before Pico, to avoid traffic snarls. The westbound direction of the Desmond Bridge will be closed from Pico Avenue. The ramp from downtown Long Beach to westbound Ocean Boulevard to Pico will still be open, however the Pico on-ramps to the westbound bridge will be closed. Those who do not need to reach Pico should avoid the area all weekend. Meanwhile, traffic on the eastbound side of the bridge will be detoured to the exit at State Route 47, and will be able to immediately rejoin the eastbound bridge via the Pier T on-ramp. A ramp from Pier T to westbound Ocean Boulevard will also be closed for the weekend. Vehicles on Pier T trying to head west toward San Pedro will need to detour to the eastbound bridge, to the northbound 710, to westbound Anaheim Street, to southbound SR-47. The temporary, weekend closures are due to ongoing construction of the replacement for the Gerald Desmond Bridge. The westbound direction of the new bridge is expected to open in late 2018, and the full bridge is scheduled to be completed 12 months after that. Stay on top of road closures by visiting www.newgdbridge.com. Get up-to-the-minute information via the "LB Bridge" app available for Apple, Android and Windows mobile devices. Follow the Gerald Desmond Bridge Replacement Project on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.