New Bridge Promises a Smoother Drive

A smoother commute is in store for the 8,000 to 9,000 motorists a day who use the Hueneme Road bridge over Calleguas Creek near Camarillo State Hospital when work on a long-awaited replacement begins later this year.

The county Board of Supervisors on Tuesday approved building a new $2.8-million span. “It’s something we’ve wanted to do for a while,” said Butch Britt, deputy public works director. “It is the last remaining bridge under county maintenance that has a low seismic rating.”

The 312-foot long, two-lane bridge was constructed about 1930 and moved to its present site in 1953.

Its steel-reinforced concrete replacement will be 450 feet long and designed to withstand a 50-year flood.

Traffic flow will be improved because the work includes a realignment of Hueneme, Lewis and Potrero roads, which converge near the bridge, Britt said. In addition, the new two-lane bridge will be 40 feet wide, almost twice the width of its predecessor, and will include shoulders for bicyclists and disabled vehicles.

The existing bridge will remain in use while its successor is built. The new bridge should be in place by late spring or early summer of 1997 and the old span subsequently demolished, Britt said.

Federal money will pay 80% of the construction costs. Money used elsewhere in the county for emergency road work delayed its construction, Britt said.