Groundbreaking for $85M Barstow bridge draws California public, private-sector leaders
San Bernardino County, the City of Barstow and California’s Department of Transportation held speeches and a photo op with hardhats and shovels on the rail yard in front of the roughly 90-year-old First Avenue Bridge, set to be replaced and demolished in less than two years.
The groundbreaking event for a new First Avenue Bridge began at 10 a.m. Thursday in Barstow’s historic Harvey House with a presentation of colors and singing of the national anthem, and ended around 45 minutes later with photos outside. It drew a variety of officials from all levels of government in California as well as private-industry players with a stake in the project.
San Bernardino County’s Third District Supervisor Dawn Rowe led the speaking period that followed the anthem with brief speeches from Art Bishop, president of the San Bernardino County Transportation Authority; Paul Courtney, mayor of Barstow; and Jim Rogers, Caltrans District 8’s deputy district director of maintenance.
Bishop recalled using the bridge in northern Barstow as a young man decades ago in his routine route to get to Calico.
“This bridge means a tremendous amount to me personally,” Bishop said, “because I remember as a kid with my dad driving over this bridge and going, ‘Oh my gosh, that’s the Harvey House,’ and I kept asking my dad, ‘Where’s Judy Garland?’”
The current First Avenue Bridge, built sometime in the 1930s, now has less than two years left as a standing structure, according to the county’s newest project schedule. It sets Fall 2024 as the current target for completion of construction with a spending target of $85 million ― a much larger mix of federal and local funding than last estimated in mid-2022.
The county’s plan is for “demolition of the old bridge once the new bridge is open to traffic.”
That planned demolition will likely prompt protests, said former Barstow City Councilman Tim Silva, who recently ended his 16-year run in local government after opting not to run for reelection on the 2022 ballot.
Some locals may want the current bridge converted to a pedestrian-only structure for walking purposes, while some history buffs may simply want it preserved as a relic built more than a decade before Barstow itself was incorporated as a city. Yet, the demolition option may yield a valuable trove of raw materials that currently make up the structure, Silva said at the event Thursday.
Drivers will be able to continue using the bridge in the lead-up to the opening of its replacement, though perhaps not at all times. “During construction,” the project plan states, “local traffic may be routed to other access points if temporary local street closures are required.”
Such detours were required when Barstow shuttered First Avenue Bridge twice in 2022, which escalated pressure to make the replacement project happen: From Jan. 12 to Feb. 4 after a head-on car crash damaged the structure; then again from Feb. 19 to March 16 after a single-car crash caused more damage, prompting the city to declare an emergency to fast-track repairs.
Drivers were directed during those periods to take North Yucca Avenue onto Riverside Drive to enter the northmost portion of Barstow and vice-versa to exit it.
The bridge serves as a critical access point to Barstow's northern region and runs directly above a massive BNSF Railway Co. intermodal yard. The private-rail giant owned by Berkshire Hathaway Inc. is also involved in coordinating the bridge-replacement project.
Charlie McGee covers California’s High Desert for the Daily Press, focusing on the city of Barstow and its surrounding communities. He is also a Report for America corps member with The GroundTruth Project, an independent, nonpartisan, nonprofit news organization dedicated to supporting the next generation of journalists in the U.S. and around the world. McGee may be reached at 760-955-5341 or cmcgee@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter @bycharliemcgee.
This article originally appeared on Victorville Daily Press: Groundbreaking for $85M Barstow bridge draws public, private leaders
