On Tuesday, state and federal officials gathered at the new West Mission Bay Drive Bridge to announce it's completion. It is the largest bridge replacement in San Diego'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.”
The original bridge was built in 1950 and had been declared “functionally obsolete” by the time the replacement project began in 2018.
The new structure had a price tag of $148 million. It features two parallel structures, each with three lanes going one direction that “improve safety conditions for drivers, bicyclists and pedestrians on this busy corridor,” according to a statement from the city.
Work on the bridge was mainly funded through the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) Bridge Program, which provided approximately $138 million toward the project, including $80 million from the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA).
In addition to expanding from four to six travel lanes, the project creates new traffic signals and protected bike lanes separated by a barrier on both sides of the bridge, along with a separated pedestrian path.
“Bridges connect us — to one another and to economic opportunity,” said 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,” he said.
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Source: MSN.com
