Temporary SLO County bridge gets funding after years of ‘immense frustration’
A crucial connection for San Luis Obispo County farmers and families will be restored after the county Board of Supervisors approved funding for a temporary bridge linking Arroyo Grande and Huasna.
The one-lane bridge on Cecchetti Road will renew access between Lopez Drive and Branch Mill Road near Arroyo Grande.
The crossing has remained closed since rushing floodwaters from Arroyo Grande Creek washed out the road in 2023, according to a county staff report.
For more than two years, residents and visitors have been forced to take Huasna Road as an alternate route.
Congestion on the rural road has slowed down emergency responders, farmers trucking agricultural products and locals taking children to school at the nearby Branch Elementary School.
“I want to acknowledge the immense frustration and hardship this road closure has caused over the past three years,” Supervisor Jimmy Paulding said in a Tuesday, Nov. 18, news release. “Since the January 2023 storms washed out the crossing over Arroyo Grande Creek, the community has shown patience and resilience in navigating the impacts. I share in that frustration, and I’m grateful for the community’s strength.”
SLO County supervisors clash over bridge construction costs
On Tuesday, Nov. 18, the San Luis Obispo County Board of Supervisors voted 3-2 to fund a temporary bridge at Cecchetti Road after months of back-and-forth over the project’s rising costs.
In June, the board initially approved $250,000.
However, on Oct. 7, supervisors rejected a budget adjustment after the price to construct the structure more than doubled to $656,000.
At that board meeting, several community members urged supervisors to fix the transportation problem.
SLO County Farm Bureau district director and Arroyo Grande farmer Tom Ikeda said the current detours take double the time and have added risks to his company’s agricultural operations.
“It makes it much more difficult for us moving our equipment up and down the valley, and (with) big heavy equipment, the safest route is actually through the village, which isn’t the ideal thing,” he said during the Oct. 7 meeting.
Supervisors later instructed staff to find other sources of funding.
On Tuesday, the San Luis Obispo County Department of Public Works reported that leftover funds from the Morretti Canyon Road bridge repair project could be used to pay for the $406,000 budget shortfall.
Rather than be used to repair four other bridges in South County, the $500,000 surplus from the Moretti project could be diverted to the Cecchetti bridge project instead, the staff report said.
Supervisor Heather Moreno voted “no” on the plan Tuesday, along with Supervisor John Peschong.
Moreno said she could not justify pulling funding from other county public works projects for an interim fix that would be in place a “maximum of nine months.”
“Allocating this funding means a delay in other critical bridge projects. We don’t have spare money sitting around,” she said.
“I’m very supportive of the solutions that we found,” Supervisor Dawn Ortiz-Legg said during Tuesday’s meeting. “I’m happy to help my fellow neighbors in other districts when it comes to things, and we do that a lot here for each other, and that is what this is about.”
When will bridge be installed near Arroyo Grande?
The $656,000 temporary structure is set to be installed in spring 2026 following seasonal rains, with a permanent bridge expected to be completed in 2027 or 2028.
Once the temporary access route is functional, travel times will be reduced for drivers, resulting in a “safe and prosperous community overall,” the staff report said.
