| | Published February 26th, 2014
| A Bridge to the Future: Improving Orinda's Aging Infrastructure Piece by Piece
| | By Laurie Snyder |  | | Big scissors for a big project. After years of planning and a fast-tracked year of construction work, the ribbon was officially cut Feb.10 on Orinda's new, safer Manzanita Bridge. Shown here (from left): Orinda City Council member Amy Worth, Mayor Sue Severson, Carolyn Elsberry, former Orinda mayor Joyce Hawkins, city manager Janet Keeter. Photo Ohlen Alexander |
"Sometimes, if you stand on the bottom rail of a bridge and lean over to watch the river slipping slowly away beneath you, you will suddenly know everything there is to be known." - Winnie the Pooh
It began with the removal of trees in January 2013, and ended with a rainy day ribbon cutting Feb. 10 that was brightened by smiles and feelings of civic pride and genuine relief. Along the way, blustery days were endured, creek waters were diverted and a one-lane bridge was installed temporarily to facilitate demolition of aging structure near an important East Bay Municipal Utility District water treatment plant in Orinda.
Built in 1937 over the San Pablo Creek, the Manzanita Bridge was seismically unsafe and increasingly at risk from Mother Nature's mutability. In its place now stands a concrete super-structure that is wider, longer and elevated 5 feet higher above the flood zone - engineered to improve water flow as well as public safety with structural, hydraulic and alignment deficiencies mitigated and a new sidewalk in place to separate pedestrians from cars.
Carolyn Elsberry, an Orindan who has been walking the Manzanita area for 69 years, was one among the crowd who witnessed the ribbon cutting."It's really a love story with the bridge ... For me, the bridge was a central part of my life and my social life," she said of her time growing up nearby. "To me, it looked brand new when I came here as a child."
Her father moved their family from the Ygnacio Valley in 1945 because he disliked the heat. "He needed to be near the fog.... We were able to keep one head of livestock per acre," she recalled. He built their home on their lower acre near a rivulet feeding into the San Pablo Creek; her horse grazed happily on the acre above. She fondly remembers waiting with classmates for the school bus at its stop near the bridge, and still keeps in touch with several of those friends.
There were days, though, that were worrisome. In 1947, her family's property took a beating as much of its fill washed into the feeder creek. "Our house was just hanging ... just teetering there." While working at UC Berkeley in the early 1960s, she was unable to reach home when rising waters made the bridge impassible. By 1987, it was "pretty dicey driving over it" yet again. "That little creek ... to think it could go up 13 or 14 feet and wash over the bridge."
So, the Manzanita upgrade began - part of a larger effort to enhance bridge safety across California. City officials and staff sought public input, secured project approval from review authorities and pulled together the necessary funding. Reassured by a July 2012 public hearing that the California red-legged frog and other sensitive flora and fauna would be protected, the Orinda City Council authorized staff to open the construction bidding process.
"I was very impressed with the naturalist that was hired," said Elsberry, remembering his efforts to document native trees and other species. "We had a family of mallard ducks ... he took care to find that it was part of their flyway."
The bridge replacement was important, explained Chuck Swanson, public works director, because the bridge serves a large neighborhood. Although the final tab is still being computed, the city's budget will most likely not take the hit one would expect from so massive a project. Recent estimates indicate that about $2.5 million of the roughly $3 million total cost will be covered by state and federal grants.
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 | | Photo Ohlen Alexander | | | | | | | | | |
Lamorinda Weekly, Moraga CA