The 81-year-old bridge on Watmaugh Road over Sonoma Creek will be replaced under a proposal by the county department of transportation.
“We can’t wait until it falls down,” said Levi Gurule, senior engineer. “This is a repair in advance.”
A Cal Trans study after the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake determined the bridge was subject to collapse during an earthquake. The Watmaugh structure “is as bad as there is” in the county, Gurule said.
A subsequent plan to retrofit the bridge was canceled by Cal Trans in the early 2000s. The latest proposal is funded, Gurule said, but could take several years working its way through the environmental and permitting process.
The design calls for a two-span concrete box girder, about 40-feet wide, to allow two 12-foot travel lanes and two 8-foot shoulders. The approach roadway would also be widened to about 40 feet on each side of the bridge. At 185 feet, the new bridge would be longer than the current structure to extend further away from the creek, which has widened since the original construction in 1929.
The county will hold a public meeting to outline the project on May 5 at the Sonoma Library, 755 W. Napa St., from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.
