Day: August 27, 2024

Tell Caltrans to rethink its plans for the Albion River Bridge

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We’ve made it easy with ten ready-to-send email templates

Caltrans needs to rethink its destructive and expensive plans to replace the Albion River Bridge. If you agree, let Caltrans know!

You can provide public comment by sending an email before September 9.

To make it as easy as possible, we’ve created ten email templates. Each template addresses a different aspect of the proposed replacement — the biological impact, the impact on traffic and business, the community impact on the loss of a historic bridge, and so on. It just takes one click to create a pre-filled email, ready to customize if you like, and then send.

Here’s how to use the templates

  1. From the list below, choose the issue you want to comment on.
    Your device should switch to your email program, with the email all ready to send. (If it doesn’t, see the “Having trouble?” section below.)
  2. Consider customizing the email to add a personal note: tell Caltrans how you use the bridge, what you think about it, how long you’ve lived in the area, and so on.
  3. Add your name and, optionally, your address to the end of the email
  4. Choose your email program’s Send option to send the email to Caltrans.

Choose your template

I want to comment on one of the following:

Having trouble? Download the templates instead

If the links above don’t work, you can view all ten of our templates. Copy the text you want to use, paste it into a new, blank email, and send to albionbridge@dot.ca.gov.

Still having trouble? We’re happy to help!

If you want to send a public-comment email but the options above aren’t working for you, let us know and we’ll be happy to help. Send an email to acab@mcn.org.

Read Caltrans’ so-called Community Impact Assessment document

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Buried within Caltrans’ reams of documentation about the Albion River Bridge is a critically important document: the Community Impact Assessment (CIA) document.

One paragraph hits the nail on the head with respect to the potential loss of the historic Albion River Bridge:

For some residents, the project would change their perception of community character due to the local importance of the existing bridge. The bridge is iconic, and some community members feel the existing bridge defines them as a unique coastal community. Replacement of this historic bridge would change their sense of historic character.

There are myriad other reasons to object to Caltrans’ plans, including environmental damage, taking of private property, up to five years of bridge closures, and much more. Our recent post describes more.

The version of the CIA that Caltrans posted weighs in at over 60MB—a pretty big download for residents of a region where fast internet connections aren’t a given.

We compressed it into a more-reasonable size (16MB). You can download it here.

Attend our community meeting and comment workshop

You can learn a lot more about Caltrans’ bad plans at our community meeting at 5:30 pm tomorrow (August 27) at the Mendocino Community Center in Mendocino. Learn more and plan to attend!