Mission Canyon Bridge Controversy
One of the most bucolic crossings in Santa Barbara is at the center of a fierce debate.
Just weeks ago, the Santa Barbara City council gave the go-ahead to move forward on the Mission Canyon Bridge Project.
The grassroots group, Coalition to Preserve Mission Canyon, already has a petition circulating in hopes of stopping work long before it ever begins.
“A lot of people don’t even realize the historical Mission Canyon, Mission Creek Bridge is under the road,” said Rosanne Crawford, a member of the Coalition to Preserve Mission Canyon.
Crawford is leading a charge to save Santa Barbara’s historic sandstone and mortar bridge hidden beneath East Los Olivos Street. It dates back to 1891 and was built by Italian stonemasons. Crawford said the bridge was widened once back in 1930.
Crawford and local historian Pauline Conn, along with another Coalition member, Lanny Ebenstein, met a NewsChannel 3 crew at the bridge early Friday afternoon.
Conn pointed to the metal railing that runs along the length of the wooden planked pedestrian bridge.
“This was put up during the Depression,” Conn said. “All off-the-shelf materials. The railing is still to code today.”
“The City is going after an $11 million dollar grant, all taxpayers money, to widen and straighten the roadway on both sides,” Crawford said. “It’s confusing to us, honestly.”
“Historic walls would be moved, some historic walls would be demolished,” Ebenstein said. “If we lose it because the bridge is torn down and a 40 foot wide bridge is built in its place, this would be one of the worst things that could happen to Santa Barbara history for decades.”
The historic, tree-lined corridor has been a cornerstone of controversy for years, for safety reasons.
“If you’ve ever had to walk between the Mission and the Natural History Museum, or anywhere up in that canyon, it becomes instantly a safety issue because the walkway runs out,” said Fred Sweeney, a member of another grassroots group known as Citizens for Safe Passage.
He is also associated with the Mission Heritage Trail Association.
Sweeney, a longtime architect, is a vocal critic of those who refuse to even consider making the Mission Canyon Bridge corridor safer for pedestrians, bicyclists and drivers.
“The essence is they just don’t want people walking in the canyon,” Sweeney said. “They really don’t want folks visiting their area or their neighborhood.”
Sweeney’s criticism includes members of The Coalition to Preserve Mission Canyon.
“First of all, they’re exaggerating. They’re not doubling anything,” Sweeney said regarding claims that the City plans to widen the roadway.
Sweeney said eyes have been on this project for six years in an effort to balance the area’s historical significance with public safety.
“We’re going to be watching very carefully about how the design process proceeds in adapting the bridge to meet modern standards,” Sweeney said. “We are very sensitive to the historical nature of that whole corridor. I have measured it many, many times.”
Rob Dayton, Transportation Planning and Parking Manager for the City of Santa Barbara, confirmed to NewsChannel 3 that the City is moving forward with roughly $1.2 million dollars in funding, earmarked for design and environmental studies.
Dayton was out of the office Friday but told NewsChannel 3 over the phone that “the train is already moving” following the approval of Caltrans funding for a county vetting process to look into environmental impacts, historical resources, among other issues. However, Dayton said the City is a long way from any final decisions.
“The opposition distorts what’s happening,” Dayton said. “They don’t want to try to find a solution, they don’t want to investigate at all. Let’s see first if there are possible solutions.”
Dayton calls this phase a “super collaborative process” involving designers and environmentalists working together on the same team. He added that the Mission Canyon Bridge is not seismically retrofitted and that the City is currently working on 12 bridge projects. Each requires roughly four years of environmental and design research and community input before work can begin. With regards to the Mission Canyon Bridge, Dayton said community input would be wanted and welcomed within the next year or two.
For more information, click the links below:
https://www.santabarbaraca.gov/civicax/inc/blobfetch.aspx?blobid=200767
