Proposal to Replace 2 Bridges Rejected

A 13-year battle between environmentalists and Caltrans over the replacement of two small bridges that straddle the Ventura and Santa Barbara county lines on California 150 may have ended.

The California Coastal Commission voted 8 to 2 Thursday to deny the California Department of Transportation’s proposal to replace the two 1927 structures with larger bridges and widen the one-fifth of a mile of road between them.

Environmentalists said the proposal would have resulted in the loss of about five acres of prime agricultural land, 35 trees and would impact wetlands that are home to a sensitive bird species.

“It was a classic David and Goliath struggle,” said Geoffrey Latham, a 15-year resident of the area that led the fight against Caltrans. “But the behemoth was banished from the Rincon Valley.”

Latham appealed to the commission after the counties’ respective boards of supervisors approved the $2.5-million project.

Caltrans officials described the bridges as outdated and dangerous.

But commission members found the argument flawed, Deputy Director Steve Scholl said.

“They were not convinced the traffic information presented by Caltrans and the Highway Patrol really warranted the kind of project that was proposed,” he said. “The commission was also concerned with the character of the area. Some of them mentioned it was a rural winding country road and has a special attraction that would be lost by widening and straightening.”

The commission’s action cannot be appealed, though theoretically Caltrans could sue the agency, Scholl said.

Caltrans planner Chuck Cesena described such a move as a “last-ditch option.”

“I’m not really sure what our options are, but we will be meeting next week,” he said. “One of the problems for us is that we still have a seismic problem with these bridges we have to address. . . . It’s going to cost as much to tear them apart and replace them as it is to strengthen them.”