San Juan Capistrano : San Juan Creek Bridge Project Begins Today

Ground will be broken today for a new four-lane bridge to replace a battered two-lane span built more than half a century ago to span San Juan Creek near downtown San Juan Capistrano. The bridge was adequate when it was built but now creates a bottleneck for the 15,000 vehicles that cross it daily.

City Engineer Ted Simon said work on the $3-million project is due to start in March and be completed in 1987.

Traffic control on Camino Capistrano, which goes across the bridge, “will be a major problem during construction,” Simon said.

“We plan to use the old bridge while the first two lanes of the new one are being built, and then do a flip-flop using the new lanes while the old bridge is demolished to make room for the final two new lanes,” he said.

He said the old bridge, which was built in 1925 and carried a lot of Model Ts and horse carts in its early days, now is both structurally weak and too narrow to handle modern traffic flow.

Funds for the new bridge are being provided by the federal, state, county and city governments, Simon said.

The ground-breaking ceremony is set for 3:30 p.m. today. Councilman Anthony L. Bland will be master of ceremonies. Speakers will include Mayor Phillip R. Schwartze, Councilman Gary L. Hausdorfer, Rep. Ron Packard (R-Carlsbad) and Supervisor Thomas F. Riley.