Second Street reopens to traffic after three year closure

The City of San Bernardino celebrated the reopening of Second Street between Arrowhead Avenue and Mountain View Avenue this week, restoring vehicle and pedestrian traffic to a key downtown corridor. The road had been closed for three years for the demolition and reconstruction of the Second Street Bridge, which passes over Warm Creek and was found to have structural issues in 2020.

“I share in the excitement of our residents and businesses in the reopening of Second Street,” said Mayor Helen Tran. “It is a small bridge, but a big connection point.”

In March of 2020 structural issues were found with the bridge and Caltrans ordered it be closed to vehicles and pedestrians.

Plans to replace the bridge were delayed by more than a year due to supply chain issues experienced by both the contractor and Southern California Edison, who needed to construct new electricity connections through the new bridge to downtown San Bernardino.

“This project was the poster child for the supply chain issues experienced at the height of the pandemic,” said San Bernardino Public Works Director Daniel Hernandez. “I’d like to thank our contractors and utility partners for their flexibility and patience with each other.”

The project was further delayed last summer to ensure the existing electricity connection remained in place to meet peak load demand downtown.

The cost to replace the four-lane bridge was just over $3.2 million. Approximately $2.6 million was funded by the City, and $600,000 was funded for project design, inspections, and contingencies by Caltrans.