OPEN: Golden Gate Parkway Bridge Over Santa Barbara Canal

Traffic is now able to cross the Santa Barbara Canal Bridge via the Golden Gate Parkway. The replacement of the bridge project started in October 2022 and is now mostly finished, with a few punch list items still unfinished.

The new four-lane bridge, with two eastbound lanes and two westbound lanes and 12-foot-wide sidewalks in each direction, is open and usable for everyone, which is fantastic news for the general public. The lane closures have been finished.

The prior bridge was built in 1971 and was nearing the end of its usable life. As a result, the $3.9 million design-build project was expedited. Both the project’s completion date and budgeted budget have been met.

Two-way traffic was switched to one side of the old bridge, and one side was dismantled in order to maintain traffic flow during construction. After the completion of two lanes on the replacement bridge, traffic was redirected to the newly built travel lanes, and the remaining half of the old bridge was demolished. This allowed the contractor to finish building the remaining two travel lanes.