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It's Not All Bad Behavior. Couple Gets Engaged on Sixth Street Bridge

Since the Sixth Street Viaduct has had its grand opening, it's had to be closed for several nights in a row over street take-overs, crashes, people scaling the iconic arches, and vandalism. But there are some less raucous activities happening on the bridge as well.

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After the grand opening of the Sixth Street Viaduct Bridge, and a whole lot of bad behavior, there is one more viral moment you should see: but this time it's way less disruptive, and won't leave tire marks all over lanes.

Through the chaos there has also been some really special moments: photoshoots, a quinceañera, and now the first couple to get engaged on the bridge.

Some people say they hope all of the illegal activity doesn’t take away from what the bridge represents.

“I love LA. I love its history and hopefully I’m part of its history too," said Joan Zamora, one of the pair who got engaged on the LA landmark.

The Sixth Street Bridge is a special place for Zamora and Ray Peña. The two were raised and met in LA County.

“I feel like you can see like all the potential LA has," Zamora said.

The couple made sure they were at the bridge’s big re-opening celebration earlier this month.

“I brought my tripod to take pictures because I didn’t want to bother anybody and then out of nowhere, he got down on one knee and proposed,” she said.

“I’m thinking man, are we really the first couple to get engaged on this bridge?" Peña said.

Two people were spotted climbing the arches of Los Angeles' new Sixth Street Bridge Thursday night. Ted Chen reports July 22, 2022.

There have been a lot of other interesting moments since, including a quinceañera, a hair-cut (complete with a barber stool in the middle of lanes), and a lot of illegal activities like street take-overs, crashes, people scaling the iconic arches, and vandalism.

LA City Council’s public works committee just approved more than $700,000 to clean up and maintain the bridge.

Crews are spending about 21 hours removing more than 1,200-square-feet of graffiti from the bridge every day, according to city leaders.

“I didn’t expect anything less. I expected this to happen," Zamora said.

Pena says he hopes people can celebrate the bridge responsibly like he and his fiancée did.

"Just drive on the bridge, enjoy the bridge, but don’t climb on the arches. It’s for crossing. The bridge is for crossing, let’s be safe," he said.

The bridge was closed four times over the past five days. The city is now looking at installing speed bumps, a median and cameras.

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