Lincoln Avenue Bridge Retrofitting Planned

The Lincoln Avenue bridge over Coyote Creek is going to be reinforced so that it is earthquake resistant, but it will not be beautified at the same time, as city officials had hoped earlier.

Mark Christoffels, public works director, told the City Council this week that the city had once hoped to combine retrofitting of the bridge with a long-proposed “aesthetic enhancement project.”

But doing the strengthening and beautifying at the same time would be too costly, he said.

The city has long sought to beautify the bridge’s upper portion as part of the redevelopment of Lincoln Avenue. Christoffels said that work still will be done. Contracting for the job separately will cost 25% less than making it part of the retrofit, he said.

The council has allocated $65,515 for work to make the bridge earthquake resistant. Christoffels said all of that money will be paid back by the state.