A bridge in the heart of downtown San Luis Obispo has been deemed ‘structurally deficient.’ It’ll cost $8.3 million to replace it. About 90 percent of those funds come from the federal government, the other 10 percent comes out of the city’s general funds.
Marsh Street Bridge, near the intersection of Santa Rosa and Marsh Street, was built in 1909.
“The bridge is safe, but it’s reached the end of its design life so it needs to be addressed. If we don’t address it over the years it will start to further decay and eventually, we’ll need to close down the bridge. Being proactive and replacing it now is a good step,” said Matt Horn, the City of San Luis Obispo’s Deputy Director of Public Works.
Construction is set to start in Spring of 2019, which will shut down Marsh Street between Osos and Santa Rosa. The process is expected to take a year.
Sunset North Car Wash & Detail Center is one of several businesses on that stretch of road. They plan to stay open, it’ll just be harder for customers to get there.
“We as a business, even though we’re going to be impacted by it, we’re going to be supportive of it,” said Bart Devaney, President of Sunset North Car Wash & Detail.
“For places that are harder to get to, like the dialysis center, we’ve obtained temporary construction easements and we’ll be rerouting them through Pacific Street,” Horn said.
Business owners say they’ll try to ease the blow with special promotions and hopefully, some bigger signage.
“Change is inevitable, things are always going to be moving forward. We are always working to adapt to the marketplace and change to serve our customers the best we can as those changes occur,” said Devaney.
San Luis Obispo City Council members were tasked with deciding whether or not to allocate an additional $1.4 million in grant funding for the bridge project Tuesday night.
