Construction on the much-anticipated Rose Creek Bridge may begin in mid-April, according to city project managers. Almost a decade in the making, the bridge represents a major component in the completion of a pedestrian loop around Mission Bay along Pacific Beach Drive. “The real purpose is providing a safe bicycle-riding and pedestrian bridge that’s taken years to do,” said Pacific Beach Planning Board member Don Gross. “[When complete] moms won’t have to push their strollers on the street.” Gross has been one of the residents pushing the project through the city process. As things are now, pedestrians walking along Pacific Beach Drive around the bay have to jump onto Garnet Avenue and find a way back to a path around the bay. The bridge over Rose Creek would provide a more convenient and safer way to traverse the creek bed, according to advocates. The project passed through years of red tape and environmental regulations before getting to the brink of construction, said Jeff Soriano, city project manager with the Engineering and Capital Projects Department. With a price tag of about $3 million, the project should take about 180 working days, according Soriano. City staff will be keeping a close eye on the project. “Field staff will be handling inspection,” Soriano said. “They’ll be issuing and reviewing the invoices when the contractor has finished some of its services.” Soriano said a ground-breaking ceremony will be scheduled as soon as a notice to proceed is issued from the city and a preconstruction meeting has taken place. Soriano said he expects that to happen by mid-April. While the city has been working slowly but surely through the unavoidable regulatory and fiscal hurdles over the last decade, planners and residents like Gross are ready to breathe a sigh of relief once the project starts. “[The bridge] is probably the biggest project in Pacific Beach in the last 15 years,” he said. “It’s exciting.”