How Will South Bay Blvd. Construction Affect MBHS Students?

Over the course of the next couple of weeks, a new bridge will start to be built on South Bay Blvd in Los Osos. The new bridge is being built because it was built in 1966, making it 60 years old, putting the bridge at risk of collapsing in the case of an earthquake, so they are rebuilding the bridge to make it more sturdy. The minor construction started at the beginning of Jan., and then the major construction will start in February.  The new bridge will be wider than before, and its 12-foot diameter piers will be deeper in the ground. 

Some locals are happy on the safety side of things and believe that rebuilding the bridge is necessary due to the risk of it collapsing. However, many people use this road every day, and getting from Morro Bay to Los Osos will now be a lot more difficult for those who use the road daily. MBHS Students will be greatly affected because the majority of the students who come from Los Osos use that road as transportation.

According to the County of San Luis Obispo, the old bridge will stay up during construction, speeds may be slowed due to it being a construction site, and at times, shoulders could be closed, forcing bicyclists and vehicles to share a lane. Once the new bridge is built, the old one will be demolished. The Los Osos bear statue has been temporarily relocated during construction, and once the bridge is completed, the bear will be moved to a new concrete pad.

The bridge is very important to those who travel between Morro Bay and Los Osos, and it is also a part of a designated emergency route for Diablo.

According to CEQAnet, plans for this bridge started back in 2021 when the county sent a request to the state on July 6, 2021, and the state began to review the request on the very next day. The request was under review until being accepted the next month, on Aug. 6, 2021. The county received a 23.5 million dollar budget for the bridge, with 88% being paid by the Federal Highway Bridge Program, which is managed through Caltrans. Starting in Jan. 2026, the bridge is to be completed in Fall 2027. This means that the rest of this school year, there will be construction on South Bay Blvd. Fortunately, the roads will still be open, and the bridge will be in use, but due to it being a construction zone, there could be traffic delays, making students’ trips to school more difficult, but still on the same route.