Bridge at Malibou Lake finally open

After delays caused by heavy rain and construction problems, the Lake Vista Bridge at Malibou Lake is finally finished.

Last Saturday at the Malibou Lake Mountain Club, Los Angeles County officials and local community representatives dedicated the new bridge on Lake Vista Drive just south of Mulholland Highway.

Most residents welcome the new bridge, according to Julie Smith of the Malibou Lake Mountain Club. But now that the bridge is open again and because the bridge serves as a main artery into the area, some people worry that traffic will be nonstop, Smith said.

Los Angeles County was supposed to finish the bridge in January, but took longer than expected due to the bad weather last winter and high costs of steel, George Khoury, L.A. County Public Works senior project manager said.

“The job was shut down by the fire department,” Khoury said. “(Due to the rains) they wouldn’t allow us to work during a certain time.”

The county waited out the bad weather, but couldn’t wait for steel. Since the country was experiencing a steel shortage due to the Hurricane Katrina reconstruction, county officials chose to use concrete instead, Khoury said.

About two years ago, the county condemned the Lake Vista Bridge because of storm damage. Residents said the county had delayed the repairs for so long that the bridge became too dangerous to use.

Officials said the delays were unavoidable due to a lack of federal funding, but that didn’t stop some residents from worrying about possible disasters and evacuation. The heavily-traveled bridge would not have been usable and some residents were concerned about their safety.

About a year ago, the county addressed the residents’ concerns and stripped off the concrete from the bridge’s surface to relieve weight and make the causeway available in case of emergency.

Under the guidance of fire officials, residents could have used the bridge in case of a disaster. Luckily, the occasion never arose.

The federal government awarded the county 80 percent of the more than $1 million budget for the project and further grants are still being sought. The process is slow.

“When you work with the federal government, you work through Caltrans, and there’s a long process you have to go through,” said Rene Bobadilia of the L.A. County Public Works Department.

Now that the Lake Vista Bridge is open, however, some residents fear heavy traffic.

“Traffic will get very busy,” Smith said. “We’re going to be working with the county, trying to get some speed bumps and stop signs because the kids and animals are so used to not having the traffic that they sort of wander over to the picnic area and the lake. They now have to be aware of oncoming traffic.”