McKenna Aiello | Noticias de la zona alta

After five months of restoration and a $38 million investment, the Cabrillo Bridge linking Sixth Avenue and Balboa Park’s Plaza de Panama reopened to vehicular traffic on Monday, June 2. The Caltrans project reinforced the bridge’s seven pedestals with mesh steel reinforcements to ensure stability during earthquakes. The bridge closed to cars and cyclists in early January.

“Today we are inviting people to resume driving across this very iconic and historical span,” Mayor Kevin Faulconer said at a Monday press conference announcing the bridge’s reopening. “This is indeed a very big moment in the project.”

The project is not fully completed though, and Caltrans District 11 Director Laurie Berman asked San Diegans to obey traffic laws in order to maintain safety for construction crews working in and around the bridge as they completed the second half of the restoration process.

“The retrofit of the Cabrillo Bridge is similar to renovating a turn of the century house, only on a much larger and more complex scale,” Berman said.  “As we near completion of the project to preserve this grand structure for future generations, I ask for your continued patience and diligence.”

The next stage of the project will update the 770-foot-tall structure’s aesthetic appeal with improved landscaping along the side of the bridge and updating lighting fixtures under the bridge’s arches. The project is expected to finish by 2015 in time for the Balboa Park Centennial Celebration.

Council President Todd Gloria thanked residents for their cooperation and Caltrans for providing additional resources during the project’s two-month delay. Gloria and Faulconer looked forward to the finished project, as both ensured the Cabrillo Bridge would most likely not see further construction until the next century.

“Think about the vision when you’re landing at Lindbergh Field and being able to look at the window and see the bridge in all its glory,” Gloria said. “It’s going to signal to people that this is our city’s crown jewel and it will be this way for at least another 100 years.”