Arroyo Grande’s Bridge Street Bridge is getting a facelift in 2020. Here’s what to expect
The big day is almost here — the 112-year-old Bridge Street Bridge in Arroyo Grande is getting repaired this year.
On Wednesday, the city announced a temporary road closure starting Jan. 16 in the vicinity of the historic bridge. Crews will begin preparing the area for the long-awaited rehabilitation project, set to start in full sometime this summer.
“I’m always trying to get people to see what is almost ordinary to them, but is really important,” city manager Jim Bergman told The Tribune on Friday when speaking about the project. “It’s just a bridge, but this bridge when you think about it impacts our community in many ways.”
“It takes a lot of care to make a project like this happen,” he added.
What can Arroyo Grande fix the Bridge Street Bridge?
For years, the city of Arroyo Grande pondered what to do with its Bridge Street Bridge.
The bridge is considered functionally obsolete by Caltrans standards. It’s too narrow and with the lowest load limit allowed on bridges before they must be closed — three tons, or roughly the weight of an empty Hummer H2.
Officials warned that if the bridge’s issues were not addressed, it would have to be closed.
But exactly what to do with it was unclear. Should the city rehabilitate the existing bridge by replacing the supplemental truss added to the bridge in 1989? Replace it entirely with a new bridge?
The former was an expensive option. In 2015, the city estimated rehabilitating the bridge would cost about $4 million, versus the $1.7 million to just replace it.
But it also seemed unlikely that Caltrans would support replacing the historic bridge outright.
The council decided in 2017 that it would rehabilitate the bridge — keeping the original structure intact.
Since then, the project has meandered through the early regulatory phases, but now seems ready to move ahead full steam.
Arroyo Grande director of public works Bill Robeson said the total cost of the project is expected to be $9 million. All of that has been covered by the Federal Highway Bridge Program, he said.
When will the road close?
Before the actual bridge can be worked on, the area needs to be prepped.
According to a city news release, Western Tree Service will begin performing tree removal and tree trimming around the Arroyo Grande Creek on Jan. 16.
This is necessary to minimize the impact to nesting birds and potential project delays if nesting birds were to be found ahead of the project’s full start in May, according to the release.
The prep work will last from Jan. 16 to Jan. 23, and will include a temporary closure of the bridge on either side during contractor work hours — 7 a.m. through 5 p.m., Monday through Friday.
Bridge Street will reopen at the end of each working day, according to the release.
After that, the city will likely award a construction contract for the main project in February, select a contractor in March or April and begin construction in May, Robeson said.
The bridge should be fully repaired by the end of December.
More bridges to be repaired
Bergman said this isn’t the only bridge project Arroyo Grande residents will notice in the coming months
The Traffic Way Bridge, which also crosses over the Arroyo Grande Creek, looks fine on its surface, Bergman said, but underneath is starting to show signs of wear.
The Great Depression-era bridge will get some work done on it sometimes this year, he said.
Arroyo Grande’s beloved Swinging Bridge — built in 1875 and the only of its kind in California — is also due for some maintenance to reinforce it, Bergman said.
For more information
The city of Arroyo Grande will discuss a Bridge Street Bridge repair update at its next City Council meeting on Jan. 14. For the meeting agenda, visit www.arroyogrande.org/agendacenter.
Project updates are also available at www.arroyogrande.org/521/Bridge-Street-Bridge-Project.
This story was originally published January 14, 2020 at 5:05 AM.
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