Night Workers Razing Old Freeway Bridge

Fresh from completing the multimillion-dollar freeway overpass on Carmen Drive, construction crews have begun dismantling the old bridge that served Camarillo drivers for the past 33 years.

With traffic along the Ventura Freeway virtually stopped throughout Tuesday and Wednesday nights, workers used backhoes and hydraulic excavators to chop down the concrete structure.

“We’re just pecking away at it,” said Tony Corica of McKean Construction, which built the new overpass and is responsible for demolishing the old bridge.

“We worked through last night and tonight, but it will probably take another night to finish removing the column and abutments,” he said.

Northbound motorists were diverted at Carmen Drive and directed back onto the freeway by way of a temporary dirt onramp.

The two inside southbound lanes were also closed during Tuesday night’s work. Wednesday night, all southbound lanes and the two inside northbound lanes were scheduled to be closed.

The work is being done between 9 p.m. and 5 a.m. to minimize delays to commuters.

“We only had one problem, when a truck got stuck on the ramp,” Corica said.

“That caused a backup until our guys were able to pull him out.”

Twice as wide as the old bridge, the new Carmen Drive overpass is designed to speed along traffic from Ventura Boulevard to the newer portions of Camarillo.

After months of construction, the new bridge opened earlier this month. The first phase of a multiyear, $11-million project to remake the interchange was budgeted at $4.35 million--money that came from the city’s capital improvement budget.

McKean Construction of Camarillo is expected to complete the initial phase of the overpass project by late July.