O'Byrnes Ferry Bridge Replacement Project Community Meeting recap

At the 4-4-12 OFB Replacement Project community meeting a presentation was made to a standing-room-only crowd by Johnathan Mitchel - Calaveras County Public Works Deputy Director , Rob Houghton - former Cal Cnty Director of Public Works and current project manager with Vera Resources, Mark Ashley - engineer with T-Y-Lin International (the engineering firm contracted by the county for the OBFB replacement), and Donna Lucchio - responsible for public engagement and gathering of community info.

This meeting was the third meeting held in the community with regards to the bridge replacement. The first being a one-on-one stakeholders meeting, the second a stakeholder focus group and the third held open to the community for informational purposes and community feedback. No representatives from Tuolumne County were present yet citizens from the Tuolumne side whose lands were impacted by the possible bridge solutions were present and stated that they had not been contacted by either county nor had they been included in any meeting as stakeholders. Rob Houghton said he would address this issue. 


The bridge, constructed in 1957 became Calaveras County's responsibility in 1997 when Calaveras County and Tuolumne County entered into a cooperative agreement which landed Calaveras with the "lead responsibility through reciprocity - they take care of Parrots Ferry Bridge and we take care of O'Byrnes Ferry Bridge" said Rob Houghton. In 2005 the county secured funds to repair the bridge, which at the time was deemed functionally obsolete.

Currently the bridge fits guidelines for federal funding for a bridge replacement due to its seismic vulnerability and an efficiency rating of 68 on a scale of 1-100. It also fits in the category of functionally obsolete and structurally deficient.

Six concept alignments have been studied and were presented to the community for their feedback.

The time frame from this community meeting to completion is expected to be roughly 5 years with an estimated completion date in 2017.

When asked the impact to the community with regards to traffic and the concurrent Wagon Trail project at the other end of town, Johnathan Mitchell said that the "level of service (during both projects) is taken into consideration." He also mentioned possible completion of the Wagon Trail in phases thus reducing service issues.

Asked if the water speed would be altered or removed Houghton pointed out that TriDam was solely responsible for that issue.

There was no stated amount of the cost of any of the options on the table at this time due to the preliminary stages of the project, yet Houghton made mention of "local match of 10% of the project costs." There was no clarification of this 10% or how it would be raised.

For the full presentation (PDF) please click HERE