Permits boost bid to replace Newell Road Bridge

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Palo Alto’s delayed effort to replace Newell Road Bridge and improve flood protection around the volatile San Francisquito Creek is poised to move ahead after the city received permits from key regulatory agencies in early June.

Earlier this month, the city received Section 404 authorization from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, a necessary prerequisite for projects that require dredging in waterways. The June 4 approval came three weeks after the Regional Water Quality Control Board issued its own certification for the project, which has been in the planning phases for well over a decade.

While the city is leading the project, the replacement of the narrow bridge has been a priority for San Francisquito Creek Joint Powers Authority, an agency that was formed after the 1998 flood and that is tasked with improving flood protection in Palo Alto, East Palo Alto and Menlo Park. The agency’s Executive Director Margaret Bruce announced the permits at its meeting in Palo Alto on June 27.

“That’s a great milestone,” Bruce said.

Built in 1911, the 76-foot structure between Palo Alto and East Palo Alto has been deemed “functionally obsolete” by the state Department of Transportation, which inspected the bridge and concluded that it does not meet modern design standards and cannot safely accommodate two-way traffic.

With a width of 18 feet from one curb to another, the bridge also fails to provide safe access to pedestrians and bicyclists, Caltrans concluded.

Replacing it, however, has been a long slog for the city, with progress hampered by stringent regulatory requirements, the need for property acquisitions and lengthy debates over what the new bridge should look like. After analyzing four different alternatives, including some that would realign Newell Road, the city selected its preferred design in 2019 and has been working to secure the needed permits and property acquisitions ever since.

The significance of the project goes well beyond its immediate area. Because Newell Road Bridge is located downstream of other bridges that span the creek, its replacement is a necessary prerequisite to rebuilding other flood-prone bridges further upstream. These include the flood-prone Pope-Chaucer bridge, which spans the creek and connects the Crescent Park neighborhood in Palo Alto and The Willows neighborhood in Menlo Park.

Residents in these neighborhoods experienced extensive property damage during the flood in 1998 an have been anxiously waiting for the creek authority to replace the structure, which was also breached during a flood on Dec. 31, 2022. While the creek authority is leading the Pope-Chaucer Bridge replacement, the city of Palo Alto is in charge of rebuilding the Newell Road Bridge.

The city has been planning to replace the bridge since at least 2011, when the City Council authorized staff to accept a state grant and allocated local funds for the project. Progress, however, stalled as residents debated design options and, in some cases, protested alternatives that they argued would encourage more car traffic. The city didn’t complete its environmental review for the Newell Road Bridge projects until 2020.

Now, the city is hoping to address the comments from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife over the next few weeks and select a contractor this fall, Chief Communication Officer Meghan Horrigan-Taylor told this publication. Construction would then begin next spring.

She said the city has already secured the needed encroachment permits from East Palo Alto and from the Santa Clara Valley Water District, as well as seven temporary construction easements and one permanent easement from private owners. It has also been coordinating utility relocations with PG&E, Comcast, AT&T and the utilities departments in Palo Alto and East Palo Alto. PG&E has already started installing new conduit along Woodland Avenue,

We received encroachment permits from the City of East Palo Alto and Santa Clara Valley Water District, obtained seven temporary construction easements and one permanent easement from private owners. Staff has been coordinating utility relocations with the various agencies including Palo Alto Alto Utilities, East Palo Alto – Water and Electric, PG&E, Comcast and AT&T. The information gathered from the utility providers has been submitted to Caltrans and it is still under review. This is part of Caltrans right-of-way and utility certification process. Concurrently, PG&E started the work of installing new conduit along Woodland Avenue where the new underground facility will be located.

East Palo Alto City Council member Ruben Abrica, who serves on the San Francisquito Creek board of directors, lauded the fact that there is finally some work taking place near the bridge.

“There will be some inconveniences but we’re making some progress,” Abrica said during the June 27 meeting.

The $16 million project will be partially funded by grants. Caltrans had approved a $6.8 million grant in 2019 and the city is planning to request an additional $6 million in state funding.

While the Newell Road Bridge replacement is expected to kick off soon, the fate of the Pope-Chaucer bridge remains uncertain. The severe Dec. 31, 2022 flood upended the creek authority’s hydrological assumptions and prompted officials to go back to the drawing board in devising solutions.

The creek authority’s consultant, WRA Environmental Consultants, is scheduled to present to the board in September new alternatives for enhancing flood protection around the creek, Bruce said.