Front Page  »  

Supervisors reject plan for temporary bridge in rural Arroyo Grande

October 12, 2025

The site of the Cecchetti Bridge

By KAREN VELIE

The San Luis Obispo County Board of Supervisors rejected a proposal to install a temporary bridge on Cecchetti Road in rural Arroyo Grande by a 2-3 vote on Oct. 7.

A storm in 2023 washed out the Cecchetti Bridge. Since then, agricultural, school and residential traffic utilizes the Harris Bridge, leading to difficulties for agricultural equipment and smooth traffic. A new bridge is expected to be finished in 2027.

Supervisor Jimmy Paulding proposed installing a temporary bridge. He was able to get $250,000 in county funds earmarked for the project.

However, county staff  determined the project would cost $800,000. In addition, of the 24 months Paulding planned for the temporary bridge to be in service, because of flooding during the winter storms it would likely only be in service for eight months.

While supervisors John Peschong and Heather Moreno objected to the expenditure, Supervisor Bruce Gibson said it was “chump change.” In the end, the vote, which required four votes, failed 2-3 with Moreno and Peschong voting no.

 


Loading...
Subjects:     
Related:


13 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments

Chump Change:


We are the chumps because we failed to change out BG in the last election.


We are the chumps because the chump change comes out of our pockets.


6

 To Supervisor Bruce Gibson, It’s time for a change chump.


20

Very good. When Gibson is spending $350,000+ of taxpayer funds on so many county administrators, including an almost half million dollar sheriff, for him $250,000 is chump change.


7

A bridge is never “chump change”, unless you are accustomed to spending someone else’s money. That said, it still has to be weighed against other pending expenses.


18

I’d bet if certain supervisors or their special friends were impacted by this the bridge would already be built


27

I guarantee there are many many Bailey Bridges sitting around some Army depot, waiting since WWII to be used. Since their span is pretty much unlimited, and their design can, actually, support a light combat tank or a heavy truck, and their #1 purpose is to quickly span a ditch, gorge, stream, river, or the site of an existing but destroyed bridge during combat operations. Installation is quick, and their lifespan is…well…many dozens are still in use since WWII!


It would be a simple matter of purchasing two spans (and likely at a great surplus discount), setting the ends in concrete, and creating separate travel lanes across their own bridges. The span can easily be created to anchor far from the edges of the Arroyo creek bed, so as to be impervious to erosion or flood.


The Huasna valley traffic can restored in about 2 months, as soon as the bridge material is delivered.


30

You wanna spend money on a temporary fix that will get washed away at the first significant rain and pose a danger to residents? Stick to putting up signs in your yard.


-13

See what I did there? I made sure to add: “The span can easily be created to anchor far from the edges of the Arroyo creek bed, so as to be impervious to erosion or flood.”


Also, not temporary. Baileys that were placed 80+ years ago, are still in use, and are still safe.


I’m in SLO, so really have no dog in this fight. But I remain concerned about all aspects that improve, interest, or interfere, with life here on the Central Coast.


5

“Chump-change”? Really gibson?


35

The Harris Bridge was built in 1924 and is going to get demoed and no one will have a way to get out in the event of a fire or emergency. Tractors keep hitting the side of the bridge and the county has to send out teams of people to fix it. How much money has been wasted by not fixing it? It takes longer for ambulance and fire access. It wastes everyone’s time and money. I drive to work every day, it adds 10 minutes to my commute. That means each year I alone have wasted 2 days of my life just driving to work because of this detour. It adds 5 miles a day to my commute or 1,300 miles a year. So $730 in car milage alone, just for me. It’s been over 2 years now. Extrapolate that to the thousands of people in the area that use the bridge and you’ve costed the taxpayers $10+ million a year in extra expenses and 55 years of their lives in one year. $100 million since it’s closed. There should be a class action lawsuit against the county.


19

“They dunn costed me money!” You’ll be laughed out of court immediately. Wild thinking on display here. You gonna sue the car in front of you for going too slow as well? Your time is not valued in that way at all by anyone other than yourself. Get real.


-22

That road saves maybe 5 min for a maybe a hundred or so people. Aka, not a priority. Put up more signs though, they ammuse me lol; “NOW!!!”. As if.


-25

When the Harris bridge breaks, because it’s old and was never designed for the traffic it currently has, and the valley residents have to use Branch Mill Rd. into the Village to interfere with school traffic, highway access, and block the roads for emergency vehicles…


…I’m guessing you’ll put up a sign too.


19