(SUNOL, Calif.) - Crews replacing the Arroyo de la Laguna Bridge have roughly nine weeks left to finish work inside the creek. After Oct. 16, environmental rules bar all activity in the bed and banks until May 30.
(Photo Credit: State of California, Department of Transportation)
That seasonal window is why a single bridge replacement in a town of fewer than 1,000 people will take three summers.
Caltrans is rebuilding Bridge No. 33-0043 on State Route 84 — Niles Canyon Road — at the western edge of the village. The existing structure went up in 1939. It is being replaced to address scour and seismic concerns, improve safety, and meet current design standards. The six-span reinforced concrete T-beam bridge becomes a three-span structure, and the roadway gets realigned.
Construction began in May 2026 and runs in three stages across three seasons. Stage 1, on the north side of the existing bridge, is underway.
The disruption falls on the road that is effectively Sunol's front door. SR-84 between Main Street and Pleasanton-Sunol Road has been subject to intermittent overnight full closures, starting with a four-week stretch of Monday-through-Friday shutdowns from 8 p.m. to 5 a.m. beginning May 18. Daytime construction has continued since and runs through October.
Main Street is the spine of the village, passing the Sunol Depot Gardens at Kilkare Road, across from the Niles Canyon Railway depot.
Since June 15, Caltrans has operated a free daytime shuttle so pedestrians and cyclists can cross the bridge during construction, running 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. Riders who do not find the shuttle waiting can call or text 925-419-4609.
The project reached construction only after a long fight in which Sunol residents held advisory standing and nothing more. Sunol is unincorporated. Alameda County governs it directly, and the Sunol Citizens' Advisory Council exists to route local input to the Board of Supervisors.
SCAC used that standing repeatedly. The council filed CEQA scoping comments on the bridge in September 2018 and comments on the draft environmental impact report in September 2021. It submitted its own fourth and fifth design alternatives, both of which the EIR incorporated. It also sent Caltrans a California Public Records Act request seeking information on projects in Sunol; Caltrans replied that it considered its obligations met.
The same body has unresolved business on the same waterway. Flooding research on the arroyo, presented by Questa Engineering, was received as informational with no action taken. SCAC has separately pushed for stronger representation of Sunol in the Local Hazard Mitigation Plan update due this year, and for redundant emergency communications for the community.
Both requests carry more weight this summer. When fire forced evacuations in unincorporated Sunol on July 21, county officials directed residents to leave by two routes. One of them was SR-84 — the road under construction.
The Sunol Citizens' Advisory Council next meets at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 19.
0
0
Comments