Caltrans Deems Georgia Street Bridge Deficient

The San Diego City Council on November 1 approved an amended agreement with Simon Wong Engineering for services on the Georgia Street Bridge renovation. This will add an additional payment of $493,000, boosting the firm's total remuneration to $735,968.

The Georgia Street Bridge, spanning University Avenue, was completed in 1914 and is on the National Register of Historic Places. District 3 councilmember Todd Gloria called the bridge a “cherished resource.” Caltrans has declared the bridge “functionally obsolete and seismically inadequate.”

The increased funding will pay for a seismic strategy report requested by Caltrans. The bridge has a “sufficiency rating” of 44.9 (on a 0-to-100 scale), according to a Caltrans document. Any bridge rated below 50 qualifies for federal replacement funding. Five bridge-modernization plans exist: two rehabilitation and three replacement proposals. Plans include lowering University Avenue.

Katherine Hon, secretary of the North Park Historical Society, commented by email: “Anything less than preservation of the bridge will be unacceptable to our organization. We support the additional seismic studies, and are hopeful that the detailed engineering work will result in development of successful strategies to preserve and protect this important landmark.”

Caltrans cited these bridge deficiencies: “non-standard barrier rails, non-standard approach guard railing, substandard inventory load rating (was not designed for modern vehicular loads), excessive asphalt on the bridge deck, substandard bridge width, and substandard vertical and horizontal clearance below the bridge.”

Take a walk around the Georgia Street Bridge...