Highway 12 bridge closure postponed

Plans for roadwork that would have closed Highway 12 at the Laguna bridge in Sebastopol overnight tonight have been put on hold because of the chance of rain this weekend, a Caltrans spokesman said Thursday.

It is not clear when the closure will occur.

The plan is to shift traffic from the existing route onto a newly built section of bridge that eventually will carry only westbound vehicles. But while the eastbound span is under construction this summer and early fall, vehicles will travel in both directions on the newer span.

The move will mark the beginning of a second year of construction at the site, part of a two-year, $9 million project to upgrade the bridge. The end product will have lanes that are 12 feet wide with 8-foot shoulders and 7-foot sidewalks in each direction.

The project has been in the works since a 2002 inspection revealed underwater scouring and erosion that was threatening the integrity of the structure, Caltrans said. The bridge across the Laguna de Santa Rosa, a 14-mile-long freshwater wetland complex, was built in 1921 and widened in 1949, agency spokesman Allyn Amsk said.

Contractors started the work last spring by building an eastbound span of roadway on the south side of the existing bridge, which carried all traffic during the initial phase of construction.

You can reach Staff Writer Mary Callahan at 521-5249 or mary.callahan@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @MaryCallahanB.