Bridge repairs slated for path
Two bridges on the multi-use path connecting Mill Valley and Sausalito will undergo repairs beginning Monday, county officials said.
Repairs to the two bridges in Mill Valley will improve on the work done in 2015 to other spans along the 3.7-mile path, said Brian Sanford, Marin County Parks superintendent.
Of the two northern bridges, one spans Arroyo Corte Madera del Presidio on the south end of the Bayfront Park dog park, where the creek flows into Pickleweed Inlet. The second crosses an inlet tributary near the skatepark behind Mill Valley Middle School, Sanford said.
Repairs to the two bridges will take about a week to complete if weather permits, said Dan Sauter, chief park ranger. He said crews will be working from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.
“At this point we are optimistic about the project being able to happen but understand adverse weather can delay construction,” Sauter said. “We will be evaluating the conditions on a daily basis with the contractor.”
The county has hired Maggiora & Ghilotti Construction Co. to replace deteriorating boards on the bridges, he said.
“The wooden bridge decking is rotting and in need of replacement,” Sauter said. “These bridges had their decking installed in the 1980s and have been repaired on an as-needed basis over the years but have come to a point of needing replacement.”
The $45,000 repair project is being funded by Measure A, a 2013 quarter-cent sales tax to support parks, open space and agricultural lands countywide. The tax brought in $15.3 million in revenue in the 2018-19 fiscal year.
Sanford said decking on the two southernmost bridges were replaced in fall 2019, bridge approaches were upgraded in early 2017 and railings repaired in late 2015.
Unlike other repair projects on the path, the two bridges will remain open as crews swap out the wooden boards.
“We are doing our best to minimize disruption along the pathway, emphasizing safety during construction,” Sanford said. “This work helps address deferred maintenance on bridges used reg
ularly by the pathway’s many travelers.”
Because the path averages more than 1,000 travelers daily, Sauter said workers will be metering traffic while repairs are in progress.
“There will be traffic control measures in place and travelers can expect slight delays during the construction hours,” he said. “Delays will be kept as minimal as possible.”
The two bridges that are slated for repair were built in the early 1900s as train tracks, said Rosemary Passantino, county parks spokesperson.
“But because they were built to hold the load of a train the structural integrity is still OK, there is still some life in them,” she said.