AnonymousSource: City of Santa Barbara
The City of Santa Barbara will begin the Mission Canyon Bridge Studies with a kick-off at Rocky Nook Park on April 25 at 3:00 p.m. The public is invited to attend and is encouraged to walk or bike to the park.
The Mission Canyon Bridge area is special to Santa Barbara. Unfortunately, there are also real challenges with the bridge and roadway. The City is beginning studies to look at possible ways to address these challenges. The kick-off meeting will begin a three-year study process. Additional information is online at www.MissionCanyonBridge.com.
I feel the same way only I’m not an old timer. I just don’t feel the need to tear down and rebuild the history of Santa Barbara because a bunch of people moved here and complain that it’s “unsafe”.
If you were really an old timer, you would know the bridge has been rebuilt many times. It it not historic. It is just old and unsafe.
The website reads like a lawyer making a case to replace the bridge, etc – so many trumped up “challenges”. The photo on the Studies page though is excellent and makes the best case of all – leave me alone! I could go for a roundabout at the APS/Los Olivos intersection – there is room for one. And easier foot access from the Mission to Rocky Nook Park via a crosswalk between the roundabout and Mtn Dr. and then across Mtn Dr. would be great – it is a beautiful area. But making wholesale changes to the bridge would be a mistake. And to create a sidewalk from the Mission to the Natural History Museum – I am not sure there is enough right of way to do that. I hope the City does not screw this up – I worry.
The main problem is the lack of safe pedestrian crossing over the bridge and at Mountain Dr + the poorly designed APS interchange. Add in the narrow lanes and you have a bicycle safety issue. Just watch a mom push her stroller through the area for a taste of the issue. Or take a look at how one car turning to/from APS backs up the traffic up APS as well as towards RockyNook park in the other direction. The nostalgia that a small number of oldtimers have for the bridge is fine and dandy but it should not overrule the safety and the traffic flow for the thousands of people who simply do not have time to spend on such a silly protest. We really need to stop restricting progress and projects by placating to a few peoples outspoken interests and wants. Most of the old walls, buildings, rusty old pipes and chain link fences are not worth saving when there are so many more important and historically significant structures that dominate the history and the look of the area. Build the new bridge and find a better cause. There are many more worthy of your time.
Yeah, well count this Old Timer as one who thinks the bridge is just fine and should be designated an historic structure and kept as is.
The minor deterioration to the Bridge is because the City has not done the maintenance
that CalTrans has recommended since 2013 to the bridge deck and the existing pedestrian path.
The City has also not maintained the existing foot paths from the Rose Garden to the Rocky Nook Park. When they do the resurfacing this summer in the area, it would be nice if they put in a cross walk from the Rose Garden side across APS where people naturally cross and a cross walk at Mountain Drive.
Some pedestrian crossing lights that light up along the road only when people cross at Puesta del Sol.
It could use a couple of “share the Road” signs reminding people that Bicyclists have the same rights as cars in this scenic corridor. If all the fear mongering tactics continue by a few that want this
11 million dollar tax payer funded project, might it be time to close the road to vehicle traffic if its too “dangerous” for bikes and pedestrians?
Oh yeah I forgot earthquake safety is a consideration and possible historic flooding with debris flows could occur. Why now? ” follow the money”
Alamar Street, the next road over that runs same direction between foothill and State is very straight and wide , cars can go as fast as they want , side walks and bike lanes all the way thru. Just please……… leave the Mission Corridor alone!
The other day I tried to walk my dog from the Fire Station on Foothill back to the Natural History Museum. Guess what, no sidewalk! Dodging cars the whole way. A 19th century street situation in the 20th century. And you can’t even see the historic bridge construction. That whole area needs a redesign to make it bike and people friendly. Seems to me that the people arguing against this haven’t ever tried to get through this area without a car.
The bridge is inspected every two years and is safe. It is structurally sound. City Transportation Department DOT) can, of course, neglect it which it is doing and cause deterioration just like with a home that is not maintained. DOT can scare the bejeezes out of us by using scary, unture language, which it is doing. We should be trying to create our own solutions that save this most historic and scenic area for perceived pedestrian and traffic needs. The multi-millions of outside funds have stifled creativity and pitted one faction of the community against the other. The result will be that the DOT wins, historic structures are ruined, traffic speeds increase, nobody is any safer, Mission Canyon Road turns into just another vanilla city street and the City DOT laughs all the way to the bank.
You’re 100% spot on. Its a messy area with an old bridge that 99/100 people dont even see or pay mind to… What do they see? Dilapidated old rusting metal on the roof of the old reservoir and a rocky, sketchy, broken walkway. My guess is that the sidewalk and pedestrian area is an ADA violation and the city will be sued at some point…