Hwy. 1 bridge is ‘substandard,’ unsafe for bikes. Caltrans just got $12 million to replace it
Part of Old Creek Bridge on Highway 1 near Cayucos will be replaced as part of a $12 million project — providing seismic upgrades and widening the shoulders of the roadway for bicycle travel.
The California Transportation Commission allocated the funding as part of a massive statewide investment in roads and transportation infrastructure, including bridges, railways and walking and biking areas, Caltrans said in a Monday news release.
That $1.18 billion transportation investment includes $630 million from Senate Bill 1 (SB1), the Road Repair and Accountability Act of 2017, designed to address critical repairs throughout the state’s heavily-trafficked system.
SB1 is funding the Old Creek Bridge project as well as a separate $17.7 million Caltrans project to replace Toro Creek Bridge, already under contract for construction.
Old Creek Bridge is located near southern Cayucos where Old Creek passes under Highway 1 near 23rd Street, while Toro Creek Bridge can be found two miles south of Cayucos toward Morro Bay on Highway 1
In addition to replacing the northern section of Old Creek Bridge, the renovation project will include improved bridge rails, guardrails, highway shoulders and rock slope protection.
According to Caltrans, the Old Creek Bridge project was welcomed by San Luis Obispo County cycling advocates such as Lea Brooks, who told the agency in 2018 that “People on bikes — and there are many on Highway 1 — have long recognized that the northbound Old Creek Bridge near Cayucos is substandard.”
Brooks wrote that the narrowness of the bridge makes the structure treacherous for cyclists to use, adding that the work “will make this bridge safer for all travelers.”
The non-standard widths of the Old Creek and Toro Creek bridges “do not allow for bicycle traffic passage over the bridge without the sharing of the traveled lane,” Caltrans spokesman Jim Shivers said.
The project will “decrease off-tracking vehicle accidents and will facilitate bicycle traffic passage without necessitating sharing of the traveled lane,” Shivers said.
Cayucos bridge project will widen road area
Built in 1941, Old Creek Bridge has shoulders that are two feet in width. The planned project would widen the shoulders to exceed the 10-feet minimum standard, according to Caltrans.
Additionally, the bridge’s existing foundations are “seismically deficient,” according to a project report. “As such, the existing structure cannot sustain widening without correcting this deficiency of the bridge either by a significant retrofit design or by replacing the structure.”
Planning work to replace Old Creek Bridge began in 2005, the report said, with updated documents filed in subsequent years.
“The project has not yet advertised nor gone out to bid,” Shivers said.
The contract for the Old Creek Bridge project is expected to be awarded in the fall, with construction is expected to start in early winter 2022.
“Due to environmental work windows, the bridge demolition will begin in June 2022,” Shivers said. “However, utility relocations are expected to be completed this summer through early fall 2021.”
Due to environmental restrictions “construction activities within the creek bed will only be allowed between June 1 to Oct. 31,” the Caltrans project report states.
Work would need to occur over a two-year time frame. The project is expected to be completed in summer 2023.
Morro Bay bridge replacement project under way
Toro Creek Bridge also has structural deficiencies and non-standard shoulder widths.
That work to replace that bridge is farther along in the planning process, with the construction contract awarded to San Luis Obispo-based Souza Construction.
“That project is currently undergoing utility relocations and work is expected to start next spring to build the median crossover detour, with bridge demolition and construction next summer 2022,” Caltrans said.
The construction capital cost for the Toro Creek Bridge replacement project is $6.6 million. Additional right of way and total support costs bring the total project cost to $17.7 million.
Both Highway 1 bridge projects have similar designs, and due to environmental work windows, they’ll have similar construction timelines.
Bridge demolition on both the Toro Creek and Old Creek structures won’t begin until June 1, 2022, according to Caltrans officials.
This story was originally published July 1, 2021 at 8:13 AM.
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