North Street bridge may open by Sept. 26

Road construction on North Street began causing traffic delays between and including Riverside Drive and Dersch Road intersections on Wednesday, Sept. 16. Reduced to a hard-packed dirt road, North Street is being diverted toward the new bridge in what Shasta County Public Works Supervising Engineer Steve Prezler called a tricky staging operation.

Work crews are moving earth from the old road to make the new road while maintaining a thoroughfare, he said.

The new bridge will be open to two lanes of traffic without restrictions "late next week," Prezler said, adding that if not by the weekend of Sept. 26, then certainly within days afterward.

All four lanes are expected to be open the first week of October, Prezler said.

Planned, designed, and administered by Shasta County, the road and bridge project was contracted to Shasta Constructors for $26 million in December of 2007.

The federal Highway Bridge Program funded 88.53 percent of the bridge and approach roadway costs, estimated at approximately $22 million.

That left the county and state responsible for the remaining 11.47 percent of the bridge cost, or approximately $4 million. Of that amount, the state will provide $3 million and the Shastec Redevelopment Area will provide the final $1,000,000. Shasta County road funds will cover any overages. These revenues and expenditures were included in the Proposed 2007-08 Road Fund Budget. There was no general fund impact, Minturn, Shasta County Public Words Director, said previously.