After a closure of about three years, the rebuilt bridge on East Mountain Drive over San Ysidro Creek in Montecito has reopened to bicyclists and pedestrians accessing recreational trails in the area.
On Thursday afternoon, two cyclists took a selfie on the structure and rode their bikes across the approximately 75-foot-long bridge nestled between the San Ysidro Ranch and the San Ysidro trailhead. The bridge is a link to East Mountain Drive and popular recreational paths in the community.
The structure is closed to vehicles, but first responders can use the bridge for access during emergency response.
“Our hope with this bridge is that it restores emergency access we had here before the Jan. 9 debris flows and also provide connectivity to the community again for bicyclists, pedestrians and trail walkers,” Santa Barbara County Public Works Director Scott McGolpin said during Thursday’s ribbon-cutting ceremony to reopen the bridge.
Several bridges over creeks in Montecito were damaged or destroyed during the catastrophic Jan. 9, 2018, debris flows, and the structures required repairs or complete rebuilding. Heavy rainfall over the slopes denuded by the massive Thomas Fire sent boulders, thick mud and other debris racing downhill to the ocean that day in a disaster that killed 23 people, injured many others, and destroyed or damaged hundreds of homes.
The bridge over the San Ysidro Creek on East Mountain Drive near Park Lane is near the location of a gas transmission line explosion that occurred in the early-morning hours of Jan. 9, 2018.
The structure features new materials and a higher elevation to allow more water to flow under it, McGolpin said.
“Our hope is it is going to last much longer,” McGolpin said of the bridge.
Project funding came from part of the Thomas Fire lawsuit settlement with Southern California Edison, which helped restore infrastructure damaged or destroyed in the subsequent Montecito debris flows. The county last year said it will spend about $10 million toward needed repairs in Montecito areas impacted by related 2018 debris flows.
Excel Bridge Manufacturing Co. fabricated the bridge, and the project started in November 2020.
The total project cost is around $500,000, county cost recovery manager Andrew Myung said.
County officials, personnel from the Montecito Fire Protection District, project-area neighbors, along with members of the Montecito Trails Foundation and Santa Barbara Bucket Brigade attended the reopening ceremony.
Completion of the East Mountain Drive bridge over San Ysidro Creek is a step forward in the rebuilding process in Montecito.
“Every road repaired, every house rebuilt, every bridge erected is a part of our community’s recovery,” First District Santa Barbara County Supervisor Das Williams said.
Williams said he visited the site of the East Mountain Drive bridge shortly after the 2018 debris flows, and he described the area as “something out of a Tolkien novel of ‘Mordor’ or a description of an alien world.”
“It is amazing to see this place regaining beauty, to hear that moderate flow coming down the mountain and to see all of you recovering as well,” Williams said, adding that he is excited the bridge reopened.
The improved bridge is a series of projects that county Public Works has completed in Montecito after the 2018 debris flows, and the county is proceeding with additional projects, according to county officials.
Last year, the county finished the long-awaited repairs of the Ashley Road bridge in Montecito.
Other projects include the Hot Springs/Olive Mill roads intersection, known as the triangle, and the Sheffield Drive bridge at Ortega Hill Road and North Jameson Lane, according to public works officials.
Public Works is repairing guardrails on the Sheffield Drive bridge starting next week, county Public Works spokesman Lael Wageneck said.
The county also is making improvements to Olive Mill Road that will continue the pedestrian path that was created to increase connectivity and enhance the work by the Bucket Brigade, Wageneck said. This project covers Hot Springs Road from Oak Road to East Valley Road, and the project will start construction in May, Wageneck said.
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“Today, we celebrate a milestone in the recovery process,” McGolpin said Thursday. “We look forward to acknowledging the completion of future projects.”
— Noozhawk staff writer Brooke Holland can be reached at bholland@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.
