We’ve created a flyer that briefly outlines the worst aspects of Caltrans’ proposed plans for destroying the historic Albion River Bridge.

Here’s the text of the flyer and accompanying map. You can also download a PDF of the flyer.

Caltrans plans to alter the Albion coast, destroying a piece of history and impacting the coastal environment and economy — for no good reason

Caltrans and the US Federal Highway  Administration propose to spend roughly $150 million of taxpayer money to destroy Albion’s iconic and historic Albion River Bridge.

Caltrans’ plans would create a wider, faster, out-of-place concrete bridge ­­— where the county, state, and federal law and coastal plans for our area specifically prohibit it.

Three to five years of construction, massive cut-and-fill grading, lane and road closures, and environmentally damaging noise and nighttime lighting

• Thousands of partial and full closure hours of Highway 1, with a 126-mile detour via Highway 101 (or by poorly maintained, low-capacity county roads, 28 miles)

• Closure of the wild and scenic Albion River to commercial fishing and recreational boats, including to build cofferdams in the estuarine river

• Closure of the Albion Flats campground and public recreational access to Albion Cove Beach

• Large, unsightly retaining walls along Highway 1 and on the unstable bluffs

• Substantial construction noise, vibrations from pile driving, and dust from grading

• Construction of haul roads through south and north Albion and down the North Side and South Side Albion River bluffs (see map below)

• Construction of two nearly 1000-foot-long, 50-foot-wide trestles (both sides of the existing bridge) and two other possible trestles off the north and south Albion River bluffs 

• Removal of trees and other major vegetation from the Albion River and Albion Cove bluffs, with subsequent erosion

• Mass cut-and-fill grading of some 450,000 cubic feet, with potentially 3,300 dump truck round trips (including removal of the Albion River Bridge)

• A bridge concept that is 81 percent wider than the existing bridge, and would cast shade over substantial eelgrass, beach, dune, bluff, and Albion Flats recreational areas

• Cumulative impacts from more than twenty other Highway 1 projects that stall travel to work, schools, stores, medical providers, and the hotels, inns, restaurants, and parks in our critical county coastal economy

Granite Construction: a dubious reputation

For this expensive and unnecessary project, Caltrans has tapped a design-build contractor with a history of environmental, worker safety, and financial violations (for a full list, go to tinyurl.com/ARBgranite).

The company has been fined more than $22 million since 2000 alone — a sordid mix of accounting violations ($12 million), competition-related offenses ($8.25 million), environmental offenses ($1.07 million), government contracting violations ($367,000), and safety violations ($354,633).

Is this a company we want anywhere near a state-designated Wild and Scenic River?

The solution: maintain and preserve

The answer is simple: tell Caltrans to maintain and preserve this historic bridge — and the beautiful environment that surrounds it.

Other states have proven the durability and economic benefits of timber bridges; Minnesota has more than 1700 timber bridges of all sizes and a robust system of inspection and maintenance (to learn more, search for “minnesota timber bridges”).

If Minnesota can do it, California can, too.

Join us and learn what you can do

Public comment on the latest plans is due on or before September 9. Submit your comments in writing no later than September 9, 2024, to Caltrans, Liza Walker, North Region
Environmental, 1656 Union Street, Eureka, CA 95501, or albionbridge@dot.ca.gov.

And don’t forget to attend the meeting on August 13 at 6 pm at the Whitesboro Grange, 32510 Navarro Ridge Rd., Albion.