A two-lane bridge on Awma Road, west of Alicia Parkway, will be reduced to one lane of traffic, while area officials decide what to do with the bridge that can no longer handle the weight of cars that use it to access a water treatment plant, an elementary school, church and wilderness park.
The Laguna Niguel-based bridge, which was built in the 1970s and is now owned by the South Orange County Wastewater Authority (SOCWA), provides primary access to the water treatment plant and secondary access to Wood Canyon Elementary School in Aliso Viejo, the trailhead of Aliso and Wood Canyons Wilderness Park and to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Journey School, a charter school, is also located at Wood Canyon Elementary School. Primary vehicle access to the park, church and school is available from Wood Canyon Drive.
SOCWA, which is liable for the bridge, recently commissioned a report that found the bridge – while structurally sound – should be restricted to a maximum vehicle weight limit of 16,000 pounds. Right now, cars stack up on the bridge – parents use it as a short cut to take their kids to school and people use it to access the church and wilderness park.
“It gets a lot of use … when morning cars stack up on the bridge, it can result in 80,000 pounds on that bridge, which was only built as a temporary bridge in the ’70s to a standard of 16,000 pounds,” said Ben Boyce, a spokesman for SOCWA.
On Thursday, a representative of Orange County Supervisor Pat Bates, Aliso Viejo Mayor Carmen Cave and representatives from the school district, City of Laguna Niguel and SOCWA met to discuss how to address the issue while minimizing the impact to residents.
In the short-term, this working group decided the bridge will remain open to vehicular traffic entering off of Alicia Parkway but vehicles will not be able to exit this way. Instead, parents using Awma Road to take their kids to school will be able to access it from Alicia but will have to exit onto Wood Canyon.
The cities of Aliso Viejo and Laguna Niguel will post signage to notify the public of the lane closure that will be effective starting Monday, Jan. 3. The closure is a temporary solution while the working group irons out a more permanent solution for the bridge.
Kelly Tokarski
KT Community Relations
