The Richland Avenue Bridge is scheduled to close from March to November for railing repair, paving the way for a mural on its crossbeams and reinforced fencing below.
Working under the management of San Francisco Public Works, the contractors with Gordon N. Ball, Inc. will demolish the bridge’s crumbling railing and patch its substructure.
According to a notice the contractor delivered to 30 nearby residents:
“Stretches of San Jose Avenue approaching the underside of the Richland Avenue Bridge will also be subject to lane closures. Areas on San Jose Avenue near Dolores Street, Randall Street, Brook Street, Rousseau Street, Milton Street and St. Mary’s Avenue will also be affected at times by traffic control measures.”
Meanwhile, the neighbors who won a $150,000 Community Challenge Grant in 2019 will move forward on plans for a mural to decorate the cross and support beams below the bridge. The College Hill Neighborhood Association, which has organized regular hillside cleanups on both sides of the Bernal Cut, will work with muralist André Jones of the Bay Area Mural Program.
According to Sophie Constantinou, who applied for the grant and leads the cleanups, the next six months should include community meetings, held virtually and outdoors, to review the designs and ideas for the mural, get feedback and “hopefully build some deeper connections across the span of San Jose.”
The bridge closure will likely mean heavy traffic on its smaller cousin to the north, the Highland Avenue Bridge, which underwent the same repair six years ago. Both bridges have barriers below to deter encampments. The barrier below the Richland Avenue Bridge will be reinforced during the repair work done above.
For more information, visit the Public Works website’s project page or contact the contractor Gordon N. Ball, Inc. at 925-838-5675.