By Ana Gomez Salcido 
The historic Georgia Street Bridge in North Park will be repaired through a $14 million project conducted by the City of San Diego with $2 million coming from local TransNet proceeds and the remaining $12 million from Federal Highway Administration grants.
Councilmember Todd Gloria kicked off the beginning of work on the Georgia Street Bridge rehabilitation project this Tuesday, July 19. Gloria was joined by U.S. Congresswoman Susan Davis, California State Assembly Speaker Emeritus Toni Atkins, and San Diego County Board of Supervisors Chairman Ron Roberts.
“I am so proud that the City of San Diego can finally begin work to repair and restore the historic Georgia Street Bridge, an iconic piece of infrastructure which has connected the communities of Hillcrest and North Park for over a century,” said Councilmember Gloria. “Collaboration across various government agencies has allowed the City of San Diego to secure vital funding to preserve a treasured San Diego landmark.”
Originally built in 1914, the bridge was classified as structurally deficient by two assessments performed by Caltrans, one in 2011 and another one done in 2014.
Atkins explained that city engineers wanted at some point to replace the bridge or to even remove it completely because of a lack of funds. But now, a decade later, the project will be completed through a collaboration between agencies.
“This is a successful story, and we need to make more projects like this one. We’ll have to work hard to make this happen,” said Davis. “We need to protect other historic sites like this one.”
Over the course of the next year, the 102-year old bridge will undergo a complete seismic retrofit and rehabilitation. The rehabilitation project is expected to be finished in summer of 2017.
Gloria mentioned that some of the project features include a reconstruction of the bridge from the arch ribs up, a restoration of its original appearance by opening up the railing balustrades, and replacing the light posts, which were removed in the 1940s, as well as other lighting.
The renovation also includes new soil nails and ground anchors to reinforce the retaining walls, arch and column improvements, and roadway lowering on University Avenue between Park Boulevard and Florida Street by about two and a half feet to accommodate large trucks traveling under the bridge.
There will be new curbs and gutters constructed on both sides of University Avenue and a sidewalk replacement on the south side of University Avenue, featuring a minimum extended width of five feet and ADA compliant curb ramps.
“Today’s event drives the importance of infrastructure and maintaining infrastructure. This is going to look terrific when it’s done,” said Roberts. “As a youngster growing up in San Diego, this was always a landmark.”
“We know we have to take care of the things we build, and we have to maintain them; it’s part of our quality of life and our mobility depends on that,” closed Roberts.