$3.2 Million Allocated to Replace 3 Aging Bridges Near Ojai

State transportation leaders allocated $3.2 million Thursday to replace three narrow 60-year-old bridges on California 33 in Los Padres National Forest north of Ojai.

Ron Bassett, a U.S. Forest Service official who until recently was district ranger for the Ojai District, hailed the move as a long overdue safety improvement.

“It’s very good news,” he said. “I stood under one of those bridges and saw daylight through the road surface.”

That hole was patched as an interim measure, but Bassett said he is eager to see the aging wood and concrete structures rebuilt completely. The project has been under discussion for at least two years, he said.

California 33, a scenic highway that winds through rugged terrain, is used by visitors to the forest and by trucks and other vehicles traveling between Central California and the Ventura County coast.

Meeting Thursday in Sacramento, the California Transportation Commission approved funding for the replacement of North Fork Matilija Creek Bridge, Bear Creek Bridge and Godwin Canyon Bridge.

Construction will begin in February and should be completed one year later.

The three structures, carrying one lane in each direction, are the first of 10 Los Padres bridges targeted for replacement.

“Those bridges were built more than 60 years ago,” said Paul Hsu, a Caltrans engineer. “We are going to widen the bridges and make them longer.”

The new bridges will be made of concrete, with wood railings added to blend with the surrounding wilderness.

Hsu said Caltrans hopes to allocate funds to replace the remaining seven Los Padres bridges over the next two or three years.

But Sally Reid, a Southern California Sierra Club activist who lives at the northern edge of the forest, said the new bridges could set the stage for other new projects that could harm the forest, such as increased gypsum mining and a new dam on the upper Sepse Creek.

Reid also said the bridge construction work itself may injure wildlife in adjacent forest areas, particularly in the streams.

“I’m very distressed about what their motive might be,” she said of Caltrans. “You’d think it would be better to use that money to fill holes on the freeway.”