Second and last phase of bridge will cost $6.5M
– Set to open Nov. ’08
The second phase of the $10 to $12 million Camino Arroyo Bridge project will begin in April when workers actually build the roadway over Llagas Creek along with bike lanes, creek trails, street lights and stop lights.
HSR General, of Santa Clara, returned the lowest of ten construction bids at $4.9 million. Together with management costs, utility work and other non-construction expenditures, the second phase will cost about $6.5 million.
This brings the project total so far to about $9 million. Last summer city officials approved $2.4 million for Galeb Paving, of Saratoga, to do all the dirt grading on the north and south sides of Llagas Creek in preparation for the bridge across the waterway. Phase I is not quite complete, said City Transportation Engineer Don Dey, but it will wrap up soon before crews start building the bridge that will connect east Gilroy’s big box stores and shopping outlets.
The bridge and connection is scheduled to be fully completed by spring 2009. A targeted opening for traffic is expected by November 2008. Phase II construction is expected to begin by end of April, after which sections of Camino Arroyo to the north will be improved here and there, Dey said.
The latest funds will also finance the installation of street lamps trails along the Sixth Street corridor that runs west from the bridge into downtown Gilroy.
Currently, most shoppers wind their way through downtown Gilroy or hop onto U.S. Highway 101 when traveling between the Gilroy Premium Outlets, off Leavesley Road, and the big box stores off Highway 152.
Dey has said the new bridge will make a huge difference in circulation on the east side because shopper traffic can avoid the freeway.
