Here’s the view of the southbound Hwy 1 Toro Creek Bridge looking up from Dog Beach. Caltrans said the supports are cracked and some are displaced, and the bridge must be torn down and replaced. Photo courtesy Caltrans
Work began April 7 to replace the southbound Hwy 1 Bridge over Toro Creek, with crews redirecting traffic to the recently completed northbound bridge.
A few years ago, Caltrans replaced the northbound bridge, which dated back to the 1930s and was one of the few remaining concrete structures that had Model T Fords crossing over it.
That project was coupled with the replacement of another Hwy 1 bridge a few miles down the road crossing over Old Creek and meant the traveling public had to twice merge onto one side of the divided roadway for a couple of years.
During that work it was discovered that the southbound Toro Creek Bridge was is bad shape, too.
The bridge had cracked and offset supports in the creek bed and deteriorating concrete rails on the deck. So, the State decided that bridge, built in 1962, had to be replaced as well.
“The existing southbound Toro Creek Bridge,” reads a project description on the Dist. 5 website, “has poor bridge health due to non-recoverable corrosion on the columns, abutments, and superstructure, and replacement of the structure is needed to resolve the issue.
Project, now underway. Photo by Neil Farrell
“The existing bridge has bridge railings that need to be replaced with bridge railings that meet current Manual for Assessing Safety Hardware standards. The existing outside shoulders need to be widened to standard width to decrease off-tracking vehicle collisions and facilitate the passage of bicycle traffic.”
The project will include some improvements to the parking areas along the highway, where people access Dog Beach, the only off leash dog beach in SLO County. Though the construction zone will mean blocking a portion of the parking areas, Caltrans is required to improve the dirt lot and increase the number of gateways through the highway fence, currently there is only one.
And at some point, the County will build the Cayucos-Morro Bay Connector Project, a pedestrian and bicycle path on the west side of the highway, running atop the bluff above Dog Beach. That project will also have to put in a bridge over Toro Creek.
Also, the County Parks Department plans to someday build a regional park on the old Chevron Marine Terminal Shore Plant site, which is on the east side of the highway. Caltrans’ project will construct an underpass along the creek so when the future Toro Creek Park is put in, people will have the safe path to the beach under the highway. It’s similar to what the State has at various State Parks on Hwy 1, along the Big Sur Coast.
According to the project description, “The project will remove the existing southbound bridge structure and construct a new bridge structure in its place. Project activities will involve vegetation clearing and replanting, pavement work, aesthetic treatments, upgrading guardrails, slope stabilization and erosion control, temporary construction access and staging sites, and temporary traffic control.”
The construction budget for the project was listed at $15.26 million but the contract was awarded to Souza Const., Inc. of Santa Maria at just $6.8 million.
The expected completion date is the end of June 2027.
Readers are reminded to slow down in all construction zones and be wary of the merging traffic through this job site, as well as folks pulling onto the highway from the Dog Beach lots and from Toro Creek Road, which empties onto the highway just before or after (depending on direction of travel) the construction zone.
