Torrey Pines Bridge Project Starts

by Councilman Scott Peters
December 2003

Keeping our environment healthy and rebuilding our aging infrastructure have been top priorities for me on the City Council. This week we broke ground on the replacement of the North Torrey Pines Bridge at the mouth of the Los Peñasquitos Lagoon. The project will replace the aging bridge with a structurally sound one and at the same time provide a mechanism to restore natural tidal flushing to the lagoon. Now that construction has started, I wanted to review the project history and give a brief update.

The existing bridge is seismically unsound, scoring 19 out of 100 on the CalTrans structural integrity scale. In fact, a park ranger told a member of my staff that a chunk of concrete from the bridge almost hit a person on his way to the beach. Even a small earthquake could bring the entire bridge down. Its replacement is essential.

The City began permitting work on this project in the early 1990s. The City Council approved the proposed design in 1999, and the Coastal Commission approved the project in 2002. Construction began this month, and the entire project will last 18 months. Apart from “looky-loo” traffic, vehicle flow on 101 should continue as normal, with two lanes of traffic kept open at all times. The west side of the bridge will be built first, then the east, and then the middle. As each section of the bridge is completed and the old part demolished, the two lanes of traffic will shift so that they can stay open throughout the construction project.

I know that some people preferred a different bridge design. I myself worked hard with the community and City staff to see if there were alternatives to the current design. We found that the alternatives drove up costs by as much as $4 million that the City does not have, and would have killed the project. The staggering traffic delays associated with constructing a narrower bridge would also have seriously harmed the quality of life for locals and commuters. Building a narrower bridge could have required complete or partial closure of Highway 101, diverted up to 20,000 cars a day through single-family neighborhoods, caused 40 minute traffic delays in each direction on the 101, hampered emergency vehicles from entering the area, and added thousands of vehicles to the already congested I-5 / I-805 merge. It would also mean closing down a major North / South traffic artery at the same time that CalTrans is building the expansion of the

I-5 / I-805 merge. And, as you can see from the pictures on my website, the aesthetic difference is minimal. That is why we opted for a bridge structure that will allow us to keep both lanes open at all times during the construction.

One of the major benefits of this project will be to improve the health of the Los Peñasquitos Lagoon. The 72 pilings that support the existing bridge clog the mouth of the lagoon, and inhibit tidal flushing, which is essential to a healthy lagoon environment. Replacing the bridge will reduce the number of pilings from 72 to four, and allow for natural flushing. Biologists with the Los Peñasquitos Lagoon Foundation, the non-profit group dedicated to the preservation of the lagoon, warned that the lagoon was dying and prolonged delays in replacing the bridge could cause irreparable harm to the lagoon environment. The Sierra Club, the Audubon Society and the Lagoon Foundation, along with State Parks and the business community all support the current project, because it replaces the bridge in a timely manner, and saves the lagoon from further decline.

Finally, the project will enhance public access to the beach from highway 101. Ramps from the bus stops on the 101 will be built to allow easy access to the beach, and will be accessible for the disabled. Although the construction of these ramps will remove some trees adjacent to the bathrooms, 8 new Torrey Pine trees will be planted to replace them. The project will also remove non-native plant material from the lagoon and replace it with native vegetation that will also help to improve the health of the environment.

The Torrey Pines Bridge and the lagoon are in trouble. Although this is one of the projects where it was impossible to satisfy everyone, we need to move forward for the sake of traffic congestion, road safety and environmental quality. I ask for your patience during construction. If you would like to learn more about this project or see renderings of the new bridge, please go to the Carmel Valley section of my web site at www.sandiego.gov/cd1/.