Oceanside's nearly century-old bridge spanning the San Luis Rey River is getting close to its expiration date, and city engineers are already planning its replacement.
The steel bridge, which stretches roughly 1,000 feet across the San Luis Rey River along a portion of Coast Highway, has welcomed people into Oceanside since 1929.
The new bridge will be built in concrete, just west of the original structure, so traffic on Coast Highway should not be impacted during construction.
Luis Cardenas, an Oceanside native who is now one of the engineers on the project, said the design of the new bridge was inspired by the work of Irving Gill, one of Oceanside's original architects.
"His vision for the city, and you can probably see a lot of architecture in a lot of these city buildings — they're white, they have arches, and they have this crisp, crispness to them that just makes it unique, and we're trying to exemplify that in the new bridge as well," Cardenas said.
Cardenas said the project is something the community can look forward to.
"I would say people here in Oceanside are very proud of what their city resembles and what their city just shows to everyone, and I think this bridge will, you know, amplify that," Cardenas said.
The project received $4.3 million in additional funding from the Federal Highway Administration. Construction could begin as soon as 2027.
