THURSDAY, APRIL 13, 2023
The new $148 million replacement West Mission Bay Drive Bridge in San Diego was recently completed and opened to the public in a ceremony earlier this month. The replacement project of the 70-year-old bridge spanning the San Diego River is touted as the largest of its kind in the city’s history.
“For almost seven decades, San Diegans and visitors to our great city have been coming over this bridge to access our beautiful beaches and Mission Bay, and now we have a structure that makes it a safer and more enjoyable trip,” said Mayor Todd Gloria.
“A project like this requires the highest levels of engineering and creativity to complete, along with a monumental investment from our federal government.”
Project Background
The new bridge is located on West Mission Bay Drive between Interstate 8 and Sea World Drive, approximately 1.25 miles west of the Interstate 5/Interstate 8 (I-5/I-8) interchange within the City of San Diego.
The original West Mission Bay Drive Bridge was constructed in the early 1950s with four travel lanes, five-foot-wide sidewalks, concrete pier walls on timber piles and a concrete median barrier.
Based on a California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) evaluation, the daily traffic volume on the original bridge was ruled to exceed its current capacity and was classified as functionally obsolete. The city reportedly began planning its replacement in 2000 when it hired T.Y. Lin International to complete a feasibility study.
Today, San Diegans can celebrate the completion of the replacement of the four-lane West Mission Bay Drive Bridge, the largest bridge replacement in the city's history.https://t.co/FAydaxZrhN
— KUSI News (@KUSINews) April 5, 2023
According to a 2009 report, the bridge was designed to handle 40,000 daily trips, but was exceeding its daily traffic volumes at 64,000 vehicles.
To resolve this, plans were made to replace the existing bridge with two three-lane parallel structures for both northbound and southbound traffic. Improvements also included:
Work for the replacement began in 2018. A majority of the project was federally funded through the Federal Highway Administration Highway Bridge Program, with $80 million coming from the bipartisan infrastructure law.
To allow for continued access to West Mission Bay Drive during the project, reports note that the northbound structure was built first, and two lanes of traffic in each direction were diverted there.
After traffic was moved from the old bridge, it was reportedly torn down and the southbound bridge was built. Partial traffic access was provided on both sides of the bridge simultaneously in December.
Bridge Opening
On April 4, the City of San Diego held a ribbon cutting ceremony with city and government officials to mark the opening of the two parallel structures to “improve safety conditions for drivers, bicyclists and pedestrians on this busy corridor.”
“Bridges connect us to one another and to economic opportunity,” said Senior Advisor to the President and White House Infrastructure Coordinator Mitch Landrieu.
“Investing in American bridges and other infrastructure improves traffic flow, safety, resilience and our economic competitiveness. The West Mission Bay Drive Bridge project is further proof that President Biden’s investments in our infrastructure are making us stronger.”
City officials noted that the improvements also align with San Diego’s 2022 Climate Action Plan goals of “increasing safe opportunities for cycling, walking and other non-automobile mobility options.”
According to reports, the bridge also crosses over a sensitive animal habitat. An environmental mitigation plan for the project included 12 acres of wetland restoration at two sites and a noise-abatement program to protect avian species and marine mammals during the construction phases.
Tagged categories: Bridges; Bridges; Completed projects; Contracts; Government contracts; Infrastructure; Infrastructure; Program/Project Management
