Frank Hartzell has written an excellent overview of Caltrans’ proposed plans for destroying the historic Albion River Bridge. Recommended reading.
Mendocino Voice article about Caltrans’ plans and our response
Author: jimheid
What you should know about Caltrans’ latest plans
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.
Albion River Bridge: Public Meeting August 13
In its attempt to sell the community on the need to replace the historic Albion River Bridge, Caltrans is holding a public meeting.
When: August 13, 6:00 pm.
Where: Whitesboro Grange, 32510 Navarro Ridge Rd., Albion
Read the Draft Environmental Reports
Caltrans has published the draft environmental reports for the proposed bridge replacement. You can read and download them here.
Tip: Caltrans doesn’t make it easy to retrieve these documents. Here is a direct link to the main document. You can also find supplemental documents at the bottom of this page.
Stay tuned…
We’ll be posting additional details about Caltrans’ unnecessary plans to replace this beautiful, iconic — and structurally sound — bridge in the weeks ahead.
For now, here are a two things to keep in mind.
- The historic Albion River Bridge is structurally sound and needs only ongoing maintenance (details, video, and independent engineer’s report)
- Granite Construction, the contracting firm Caltrans has hired to manage this project, has a disturbing track record of violations, everything from fraud to environmental violations. This is not a company that can be trusted to properly manage the sensitive environment at the Albion River.
More soon.
Caltrans’ bad plan for the spectacular Navarro Point Preserve
Caltrans’ so-called Navarro Ridge Safety Project will severely deform the beautiful environment surrounding the Navarro Point Preserve south of Albion. This video, which we produced for our appeal to the Mendocino County Board of Supervisors, shows the project area and speaks to the inappropriateness of this project.
Photo Exhibit Honors the Historic Albion River Bridge
In celebration of the Albion River Bridge, Albion Bridge Stewards proudly present an exhibit of photographs by Rita Crane at the Albion post office through the end of January.
Rita Crane is the daughter of LIFE photographer Ralph Crane, whose photos were published in the magazine from 1936 to 1972, during the Golden Age of Photojournalism. Her work can be seen locally at Prentice Gallery on Main Street in Mendocino, or at her website.
“This has been a fun project,” Crane said, “photographing the bridge in its many moods, from different angles.”
In 2017, the historic Albion River Bridge was listed in the National Register of Historic Places and the California Register of Historical Resources.
To learn more about the Albion River Bridge and keep tabs on efforts to preserve it, bookmark this website and “like” this page on Facebook.
Albion to Caltrans: Not So Fast
Caltrans plans to put a two-lane expressway through Albion. The agency needs to change those plans.
Most people have already heard about Caltrans’ desire to replace the historic Albion River Bridge as well as the recently seismically retrofitted Salmon Creek Bridge — and along the way, nearly doubling the width of Highway 1 in the vicinity of those two bridges.
These are bad ideas. But it gets even worse.
Caltrans has now announced plans to widen Highway 1 starting at the Navarro Point Preserve and continuing north of Navarro Ridge Road.
The result would be a Highway 1 that’s up to twice as wide, stretching from the Navarro Point Preserve to the Albion River Inn. All so drivers can fly through Albion—and then slam on the brakes at the Navarro Grade or Dark Gulch.
Caltrans is proposing four overlapping projects that will cost at least $160 million and involve years of construction, lane and highway closures, significant grading and wetlands damage, destruction of sensitive plant and animal habitat, and huge impacts to visitor-serving facilities at Albion Flats, the Albion River Inn, and Navarro Point Preserve.
The projects also involve the addition of rumble strips that will destroy the tranquil soundscape of the Navarro Point Preserve, and ugly “Midwest guardrail systems” that have no place in this highly scenic part of Highway 1.
Make no mistake: Highway 1 needs drainage and safety improvements in the Navarro Ridge area. But an expressway and years of construction are not the answer—just as huge new bridges are not the answer at Salmon Creek and Albion River.
With proper maintenance, better planning, and simple measures like reduced speed limits, Highway 1 and its Albion bridges can serve the public safely for decades—and with no environmental degradation and far fewer taxpayer dollars.
Caltrans is hosting a public meeting on Thursday, September 19 at the new Albion School, 30400 Albion Ridge Road, from 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm.
Attend this meeting and tell Caltrans that its plans for Albion are too much, too expensive, and completely unnecessary—that improved safety and drainage can be accomplished for a fraction of the cost. And demand that Caltrans produce an environmental impact report and environmental impact statement that takes into account all four projects as a whole, rather than attempting to piecemeal the projects, a practice that is prohibited under the California Environmental Quality Act.
Save Highway 1 through Albion. Tell Caltrans, “not so fast.”
On June 9, celebrate the Albion River Bridge’s 75th anniversary
June marks the 75th anniversary of the opening of the historic Albion River Bridge, the only remaining timber trestle bridge on California’s scenic Highway 1 and most likely the only significant timber trestle highway bridge in use in the United States.
Albion Bridge Stewards invite everyone to celebrate the 75th anniversary of this iconic bridge on Sunday, June 9 from 12:30 pm to 3:30pm at the Albion River Inn.
Come enjoy the beautiful views of the historic timber bridge from the restaurant and grounds of the inn. Featured will be local musicians extraordinaire Karl Schoen, Lynn Kiesewetter, Mark Gauche, Martha Smith and Miguel Elac.
Two short films will also be shown: Bridging the Gap, by Laurie York and Carmen Goodyear; and Albion Flight, by Jim Heid.
There will be a no-host bar. Please carpool as there is limited parking. For more information visit our Facebook page or send email to Albion Bridge Stewards.
Businesses Suffer When Caltrans Closes Bridges and Highways
Lynn Derrick is the owner and chef at Queenie’s Roadhouse Cafe in Elk, about five miles south of Albion, where Caltrans is working to replace two bridges, one of which is an historic landmark.
In this short video from Beth Bosk of Albion, Lynn describes the impact Caltrans traffic delays have had on her business—and will have, if Caltrans conducts a planned geotechnical investigation at the historic Albion River Bridge.
In the news: lawsuit over Albion River Bridge “Geotechnical investigation” development
The Santa Rosa Press Democrat ran a front-page article about the lawsuit that has been filed to stop the geotechnical investigation development that Caltrans is planning at the historic Albion River Bridge. An excerpt is below. Here’s the entire article.
Lawsuit filed in bridge dispute
Defenders of the historic Albion River Bridge are looking to a San Francisco judge to block upcoming Caltrans operations that they argue threaten the local environment and the centerpiece of their coastal village.
Drilling and geotechnical studies recently were authorized by the California Coastal Commission despite an outcry from the tiny hamlet’s residents, many who fear the work will interrupt bridge travel and inevitably lead to the replacement of the picturesque span at the river mouth.
Residents also object to the disruptive equipment, scheduled grading and removal of eucalyptus groves that will allow for placement of drilling platforms on the bluffs at either end of the bridge, in part through the use of helicopters.
A 20-page lawsuit was lodged by Peter Wells and Flurry Healy, co-owners of the Albion River Inn, and a Los Angeles investment banker, John Danhakl, who owns a large horse ranch just outside town called Whitesboro Farm. The suit, filed the day the Coastal Commission cast its support for Caltrans’ studies, challenges the commission’s jurisdiction over the issue and asserts the project violates coastal protections. It also argues the work would cause lasting damage to the scenic landscape and, thus, the local tourist economy.
Opponents distrust Caltrans’ motives, believing the agency already has decided to replace the well-known structure and will use the upcoming work to lay the groundwork.
Video of September 20, 2018 Caltrans Public Scoping Meeting: Salmon Creek Bridge Replacement Project
Here’s the video of a Caltrans public scoping meeting held at the Albion School on September 11, 2018 for a proposed replacement of the Salmon Creek Bridge.
(Caltrans held two scoping meetings for this project because members of the local Jewish community expressed concern that the September 11 meeting had been scheduled for the Jewish holiday of Rosh Hashanah.)
Albion Bridge Stewards 