Return to glory: Georgia Street Bridge

By Ken Williams | Editor

The historical Georgia Street Bridge is about to undergo a $14 million face-lift to restore the aging landmark to its original glory. The rehabilitation project is expected to be finished in summer 2017.

In 1914, the Georgia Street Bridge — a reinforced concrete structure designed by J.R. Comly to replace a 1907 all-redwood trussed bridge — was dedicated in a new city neighborhood named North Park. Charles F. O’Neall was the mayor of San Diego, a city of about 40,000 people experiencing growing pains.

Georgia Street Bridge 1949-courtesy of North Park Historical Societywebtop — View of the North Park landmark Georgia Street Bridge in 1949 (Courtesy of North Park Historical Society)

The new bridge was an instant classic with its elegant Roman arches, a theme echoed on the massive retaining walls on both sides of University Avenue, below the bridge.

Vicki Granowitz, chair of the North Park Planning Committee, described the bridge’s style as Mission Revival and said Comly designed it to complement the theme of the 1915-16 Panama-California Exposition at nearby Balboa Park.

At the public ceremony on July 19 to mark the start of construction, Granowitz read a prepared statement documenting the history of the 102-year-old bridge and the herculean community effort it took to preserve it from the wrecking ball.

“This is more a gateway than a bridge,” Granowitz said. “It is an entrance to historical North Park.”

For more than a century, the Georgia Street Bridge has been a very visible landmark for residents of North Park as well as Hillcrest. But for decades, the bridge was neglected even though major repairs were needed. Then Caltrans wanted to demolish the old bridge, prompting community activists and local politicians to forge a coalition, first to get the bridge declared historic and then to muster up the money to restore the structure to its original beauty.

Views of the North Park landmark Georgia Street Bridge in 2016, ahead of a major restoration project. (Photo by Ken Williams)

District 3 Councilmember Todd Gloria played emcee at the July 19 ceremony, which was conducted on the bridge’s north side.

The year-long project will result in the historical structure getting a complete seismic retrofit and rehabilitation. Gloria said the $14 million budget included $2 million from the local Transnet fund with the remaining $12 million from Federal Highway Administration grants.

The underside of the Georgia Street Bridge from University Avenue (Photo by Ken Williams)

“I am so proud the city of San Diego can finally begin work to repair and restore the historic Georgia Street Bridge, an iconic piece of infrastructure which has connected the communities of Hillcrest and North Park for over a century,” Gloria said in a statement issued after the ceremony. “Collaboration across various government agencies has allowed the city of San Diego to secure vital funding to preserve a treasured San Diego landmark.”

The project will disrupt traffic for motorists and pedestrians on University Avenue and cause detours around the construction site between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m., officials said. “It will be worth the wait,” Gloria said.

Caltrans classified the Georgia Street Bridge as “structurally deficient” in assessments made in 2011 and 2014, Gloria said.

The crumbling infrastructure exposed rebar to the elements. (Photo by Ken Williams)

California Assembly Speaker Emeritus Toni G. Atkins recalled how she was just a “little staff member” to Councilmember Christine Kehoe in the 1990s when community leaders began rallying support to save the bridge from demolition. Atkins remembered an unnamed city engineer — “no one who is here today,” she said, eliciting laughs — told her that he would be around long after she was gone from the political scene and the bridge had been torn down.

Atkins remembered some of the ridiculous hurdles that had to be jumped over to get the bridge declared historic, including having to prove that the retaining walls, with their Roman arches, were part of the bridge.

Atkins is still around, unlike that unnamed city engineer. She replaced Kehoe on the City Council after Kehoe was elected to the Assembly, and then replaced Kehoe in the Assembly after Kehoe was elected to the state Senate. Atkins is heavily favored to be elected to the state Senate in November.

The Speaker Emeritus saluted Kehoe and other community leaders, including some people now deceased, who believed in preserving our local history.

“This project is proof that our stewardship can outlive us individually,” Atkins said in honoring the visionaries who are no longer with us, mentioning Joe Schloss and Don and Karon Covington, among them.

County Supervisor Ron Roberts, who is also the chair of the regional planning agency, San Diego Association of Governments, noted that as an architect, he always wanted to build bridges.

“As a youngster growing up in San Diego,” he said, “the bridge was always a landmark. … It is part of our quality of life.”

The project is a reminder of the importance of infrastructure in our community and the importance of preserving it, Roberts said.

U.S. Rep. Susan Davis recalled when the Georgia Street Bridge was designated historic in 1998, thus saving it from destruction.

Davis called the project “such a success story” because so many stakeholders came together to spare the bridge. “For me, seeing federal dollars come here for a historical bridge is a really good thing. … It’s to be celebrated!”

—Ken Williams is editor of Uptown News and can be reached at [email protected] or at 619-961-1952. Follow him on Twitter at @KenSanDiego, Instagram at @KenSD or Facebook at KenWilliamsSanDiego.