Staff Report

Caltrans District 5 is accepting public comments on a proposal to remove the Alamo Pintado Creek Pedestrian Bridge adjacent to Foxen Canyon Road and Railway Avenue in Los Olivos. The virtual meeting will be held from 5 – 7 p.m.on Tuesday, Sept. 22.

The Alamo Pintado Creek Pedestrian Bridge was constructed in 1912. In 1971, a new bridge structure—Alamo Pintado Creek Bridge (bridge number 51-0076Y)—was built upstream of the existing structure. The new bridge was built on a new alignment 40 feet upstream from the original structure. At that time, local citizens contacted the State to leave the 1912 structure so it could be used as a pedestrian/equestrian trail bridge. Concrete footing encasements were built around the pile caps of the existing structure. However, these encasements eventually became exposed and undermined.

Today, the old Alamo Pintado Creek Pedestrian Bridge is used by pedestrians, bicyclists, and equestrians. Critical scour of the pile and pier foundation has caused settlement of the bridge deck. A bridge inspection on September 28, 2011 was used to prepare a Bridge Needs Report dated March 29, 2012. The report determined the abandoned bridge is no longer stable with respect to gravity load, and the bridge is sinking slowly at the supports. In the inspection report, recommendations were made to retrofit the bridge or simply remove the bridge. Since those recommendations were made, it has been determined that this area of Alamo Pintado Creek is designated as a floodway, which means the channel capacity cannot be reduced. Retrofitting the substructure would require constructing foundation elements within the channel, which would affect the hydraulic capacity of the creek.

The project would remove the abandoned Alamo Pintado Creek Pedestrian Bridge (bridge number 51-0076Y), remove the retaining wall next to the bridge, and place rock slope protection in that area. The bridge superstructure would be removed from above the creek, while the piers and foundation portion would be removed from below. Minor grading and embankment restoration would also be necessary within the proposed construction easement.

This project contains a number of standardized project measures that are used on most, if not all, Caltrans projects and were not developed in response to any specific environmental impact resulting from the proposed project.

Meeting Format:

5 – 5:15 pm: Allow time for participants to join the meeting, welcome, and introductions
At 5:15 p.m., the following 20-minute video will be presented:

https://youtu.be/iHlaSxiUW6o (English)

At about 5:35 p.m. following the showing of the video, the meeting will be open to the public for questions and comments. Our project team will be available to answer and respond to your questions and comments.
The meeting will be recorded, and all questions and comments will be included in the public hearing record.
During the questions and comments portion of the meeting, use the ‘raise hand’ and ‘chat’ features to ask your question
The meeting will be adjourned at 7 pm. Your questions and comments will be given full consideration in preparation of the final environmental document.

To Join the Meeting:

You may join the meeting by mobile device or by phone:

On your computer or mobile device: Click on the following link: https://cadot.webex.com/cadot/j.php?MTID=m076e432a5c8339511a3e6e5b92778199
- Enter your name and email address to join the event
- During questions and comments portion of the meeting, use the ‘raise hand’ and ‘chat’ features to ask your question