Work underway on $9 million project to fix historic Arroyo Grande bridge deemed ‘obsolete’
Renovations on a 112-year-old bridge in Arroyo Grande are underway after months of preparation and years of discussion.
Located in the Village of Arroyo Grande, the Bridge Street Bridge was considered functionally obsolete by Caltrans because of its narrow width and three-ton weight limit.
For years, the city struggled in deciding whether to entirely replace or rehabilitate the historic landmark, but in 2017, the Arroyo Grande City Council decided to keep the original structure intact by rehabilitating the bridge.
Arroyo Grande director of public works Bill Robeson told The Tribune in January that the total cost of the project is expected to be $9 million — all of which will be covered by the Federal Highway Bridge Program.
The area around the bridge closed for a week in January while Western Tree Service removed and trimmed trees around the Arroyo Grande Creek to minimize the impact to nesting birds which could have caused potential project delays, according to a news release.
About six months later, on June 1, the city announced that the Bridge Street Bridge would be closed to vehicle traffic through the rest of the year, according to the Bridge Street Bridge Project website.
A temporary pedestrian bridge was put into place in mid-June and opened for “non-motorized public use” the week of June 29, according to the website.
As of Sunday, construction had begun on the bridge, according to livefeed video of the project.
The project is slated to be completed by December 2020.
Bridge changes around SLO County
Several bridges around San Luis Obispo County have recently been closed to vehicle traffic.
In May, the San Luis Obispo County Department of Public Works closed the Pippin Lane Bridge in Avila Beach due to structural deficiencies.
And earlier in July, Pismo Beach closed and demolished the Bello Bridge over the PIsmo Beach Creek in order to build a bridge that will provide greater access to Highway 101.
The Tribune reported in January that Arroyo Grande’s Traffic Way Bridge and Swinging Bridge will also undergo construction in 2020.
