The San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors is embarking on an ambitious plan to rebuild dozens of bridges on a 118-mile stretch of Route 66 and resurface the road from Daggett, California, to Essex, California, according to the Desert Dispatch newspaper of Barstow, California.
According to a county document, the total cost to replace 31 timber bridges less than 20 feet long would be $40 million. The county plans to apply for a U.S. Department of Transportation grant from the Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery program, or TIGER, to cover 80 percent of the cost. San Bernardino County’s share will be $8 million.
The county’s Public Works Department is recommending a noncompetitive bid by engineering firm Biggs Cardosa Associates because of the short time window for the grant. The county wants all the engineering and environmental services for the 31 bridges and all the preconstruction work finished by June 2016.
But those small bridges are just a small part of the plan. More from the document:
There are 127 timber bridges that were constructed in the 1920s and 1930s that are in need of repair or replacement to maintain public safety and the structural integrity of the roadway. Repair or reconstruction costs for bridges over 20 feet in length are eligible for reimbursement under the federal Highway Bridge Program (HBP); however, bridges less than 20 feet in length are not eligible for HBP funds and the County must find other funding sources to repair or reconstruct these bridges. The TIGER grant program provides such a funding opportunity. […]
The Department will continue to seek other sources of funding, including traditional HBP funds for the additional 96 bridges that are over 20 feet in length, as well as funding for the roadway surface rehabilitation. It is anticipated that the cost to replace all the Route 66 bridges and rehabilitate the roadway surface, including the cost associated with environmental review/mitigation, engineering and other administrative work, is between $150 and $180 million.
The documents did not give an estimation of when the rebuilding of the small bridges would be finished. In terms of rebuilding all the bridges and resurfacing the road, it’s safe to say such a big project would need several years or work.
Severe flash flooding in September 2014 washed out at least 50 bridges on Route 66 in the Mojave Desert and damaged the roadway in other parts. Route 66 between Essex and just east of Amboy remains closed.
Last fall’s flooding exposed a lot of vulnerabilities in Route 66 in that region, so it’s reasonable for the county to want to solve that problem once and for all.
Also, the road surface between Essex and Daggett is notoriously bad for motorcycles and impossible for bicycles — to the point where the Adventure Cycling Association bypassed much of old Route 66 in the Mojave. The county probably decided to solve that problem as well to help create a better tourism experience.
(One of Route 66’s timber bridges in the Mojave Desert, via San Bernardino County Public Works)
Allow me to reiterate the “notoriously bad for motorcycles” part. Not only did that section of road blow the seals on my front fork, but broke several plastic tabs that hold the body to the frame. And that was 4 years ago.