The Bridges of Rincon Creek Spark Passionate Fight for Preservation

Forget the soap-opera romance of Robert James Waller’s “The Bridges of Madison County.” This is the story about a very passionate fight to preserve two old bridges linking Ventura and Santa Barbara counties.

State transportation officials say the 1927 bridges that span Rincon Creek are outdated and dangerous, noting that one of the narrow structures has an accident rate more than twice the statewide average for rural two-lane highways.

But property owners and environmentalists in both counties argue that replacing the bridges with larger structures would uproot several mature oak and sycamore trees as well as remove six acres of farmland and a quarter of an acre of wetland.

Moreover, they say, widening the bridges will only invite more traffic to the mostly rural area in the hills north of La Conchita.

“We don’t want all these people driving up here from Los Angeles,” said Penny Hannon, who lives within a mile of the bridges on the Santa Barbara County side. “The local people are being squeezed out as it is.”

The Los Padres Chapter of the Sierra Club has also joined the fight. Al Sanders, a member of the group, said that removal of any wetland area could affect a number of endangered species, including the yellow warbler, a state bird that regularly uses the riparian habitat.

“There are a lot of species that move from one drainage area to another,” Sanders said. “When you start losing these links, you prevent some species from migrating and eventually they will be lost.”

The battle over the bridges, which has resulted in at least one lawsuit filed against Caltrans, has been raging for more than a decade and looks as if it may go on a little longer.

The two bridges actually straddle the line between Ventura and Santa Barbara counties. The two counties meet in the center of each bridge.

In September, the Ventura County Planning Commission, ignoring the advice of its own staff, voted 3 to 2 to deny issuing building permits for the replacement bridges.

A majority of the commissioners agreed with nearby property owners that the $2.5-million construction project was too grand in scope and would create additional traffic problems while fouling the air. They recommended that alternatives be explored.

Caltrans has since appealed the decision to the Board of Supervisors, which will consider the matter today.

Specifically, the proposal calls for each of the two bridges to be replaced with 36-foot-wide structures, twice the width of the older ones. One bridge would be rebuilt in the same location, while the other would be moved 60 feet south of the existing structure.

The main reason for replacing the bridges is safety, said Caltrans planner Chuck Cesena, who has worked on the proposed project since 1984. One of the bridges curves to the right and has a sharp drop-off, which can be dangerous to unsuspecting motorists, Cesena said.

“We’ve had a number of motorcycles launched from there,” he said. “They tend to end up in a nearby avocado grove.”

If the project is approved by both counties, Cesena said Caltrans would be ready to begin work within four months. He said construction and realignment of adjoining California 150 would take a year to 18 months.

Meanwhile, Santa Barbara County supervisors have scheduled a hearing on the project for Nov. 19.

Even if both counties approve the project, Cesena said, opponents can still appeal the decision to the California Coastal Commission.