Week of August 10, 2026
Work has focused on fitting forms and pouring cement on the west end of the bridge so far this month. Workers are making progress on building forms for the walls along the pedestrian ramp.
Week of August 17, 2026
The crane moved to the east side of the bridge since the cement for the walls is done on the west side. Now work on frame-building and installation is focused on the walls above and below the pedestrian ramp.
However, work on the west end continued as dump truck after dump truck delivered MORE dirt! Some of it was laid down onto the approach to the bridge, but some dirt was dropped over the side to fill in between the bridge walls and the coffer dam, supposedly to return the dirt level to its original height.
Another new event this week is the delivery of a second crane and its parts being assembled on the west end of the bridge.
By Thursday afternoon, the crane and equipment were removing pieces of the coffer dam, causing the incredibly earth-shaking sounds again. Workers said the removal will be MUCH faster than the installation. But perhaps just as noisy!
On Friday morning, coffer dam removal continued, and cement was being poured into the frames on the ramp side of the bridge wall.
Workers did some overtime on Saturday, pulling out more coffer dam and moving the crane to a better position to begin removal on the east end. I hadn't noticed the yellow boom before. Notice the crane on the bridge approach on the west end as of Friday.
Week of August 24, 2026
Busy day on Monday! Coffer dam pieces were removed throughout the day. I don't know if my plant likes being rattled. I don't!
We crossed to the west side to watch the process from up close. The guy doing the flagging along Southworth Drive was good to chat with. The "dam" pieces are lifted out and over to the old road bed. 3 guys guide it so it can be gently lowered. (I would not want THAT job!) An excavator grabs it in the center to carry it to the stack. Oops! I guess it doesn't always go according to plan! But the machine nudged it right-side up and grabbed it again. We learned that the flatbed truck can carry 7 pieces per trip.
On Wednesday, the coffer dam pieces were all out and the crane used to remove them was de-constructed. No more vibrating plants! More booms were added to contain any debris.
Friday was a big day! You know if it is Friday, it is cement pour day! By late morning, the pumper truck and mixers were done, but activity continued.
Excavators drove down into the channel between the bridge piers and began working. They laid down their steel plates to make a solid "road" for their heavy equipment. (Anyone who has been in the estuary mud knows that is a necessity!) A by-pass pipe was laid parallel to the existing culvert, and more booms were laid to prevent silt from contaminating clean water. Material was put in place to prevent fish and other small critters from entering the work area, both upstream and downstream. People with nets fished out any creatures caught in-between and released them to live another day!
The tides were favorable to the crews pulling out mud and dirt on Friday. But on Monday-Friday next week the lowest tides will happen in the middle of the night. Not sure if this will impact the work they do.
The documents below are details from the county plan that show this next part of the project: constructing the streambed. The first one shows the pipe parallel to the existing culvert. The last one describes the material used to create a "natural" streambed.
By the end of the day Friday, this is what it looked like.