Bridge work over Sir Francis Drake delayed, should be completed by Monday


By Mark Prado, Marin Independent Journal

POSTED: 03/27/15, 6:09 PM PDT | UPDATED:

A problem with a truck transporting the new bicycle-and-pedestrian bridge to span Sir Francis Drake Boulevard delayed work set to begin Thursday evening.

The truss section of the bridge was driven from Arizona to Highway 37 just east of the Lakeville Highway on Thursday to await transport to the job site, where it would be hoisted over the boulevard near the Larkspur Ferry Terminal.

While it was sitting along the roadside the hydraulics in the rear trailer unit used to steady the load leaked onto the brake drums. The California Highway Patrol then expressed concerns about the safety of the operation. While the contractor cleaned up the spill, they were unable to clean the brakes in time, according to the Transportation Authority of Marin.

Work was rescheduled to begin Friday night and will involve road closures.

The first closure is on westbound Sir Francis Drake from 10:30 p.m. Friday until 4:30 a.m. Saturday. The second closure will be in both directions from 10:30 p.m. Saturday until 6 a.m. Sunday. The closure will result in detours.

Once the bridge is in, bicyclists and pedestrians will have a way over the busy thoroughfare to the ferry terminal and beyond. But that will not be until late summer or early fall when the entire project — the “Central Marin Ferry Connection Multi-Use Pathway” — is completed.

Railings, lighting and screening need to be put on the span, and concrete needs to be poured for its surface.

The new steel truss 291-foot bridge will essentially follow the alignment of an old railroad trestle — part of a rail line built in the 1880s and made famous in the movie “Dirty Harry” — that was removed in 2003 after it was damaged by a truck.

It will start near the Cal Park Hill Tunnel, cross the busy boulevard, and deposit people on an east-west pathway. The new structure also will make it easier for bikers to travel north and south through the county.

Ghilotti Bros. Inc. of San Rafael bid $9.4 million to do the work on the pathway. The project is being funded by money from 2004’s voter-approved Regional Measure 2, which raised Bay Area state bridge tolls by $1, and federal “non-motorized” transportation funding via the county.