Supervisors set weight limit on Live Oak Park Road bridge that is "structurally deficient"

The San Diego County Board of Supervisors formalized the temporary weight limit for traffic crossing the bridge on Live Oak Park Road.

The weight limit of five tons per truck, 10 tons per semi-trailer combination, and 12 tons per truck and full trailer was approved for the bridge on Live Oak Park Road over the San Luis Rey River tributary crossing which is 160 feet south of Gum Tree Lane. A 5-0 Board of Supervisors vote May 12 approved the first reading and introduction of the ordinance for the weight limit while the supervisors’ 5-0 vote May 19 approved the second reading and adoption.

Signs had been posted in February due to the bridge’s structural deficiencies and federal law required those weight limits to be enforceable, but the Board of Supervisors action places the weight restrictions into the county ordinance. “This is to formalize it,” said Murali Pasumarthi, the traffic engineering manager for the County of San Diego’s Department of Public Works.

Live Oak Park Road is a two-lane road which is not classified on the county’s Circulation Element map. The road narrows in width from 33 feet to 23 feet in the vicinity of the bridge. Its 35 mph speed limit is certified for radar. A March 2010 traffic survey taken north of Alvarado Street revealed a two-way average daily traffic volume of 2,760 vehicles.

The bridge on Live Oak Park Road has served traffic since the 1950s and includes three corrugated metal pipe arch culverts with Portland cement concrete headwall and endwall composition. A recent bridge inspection determined a mid-span vertical deflection of 1 1/2 feet, and water leaking from one culvert to another was observed.

Its sufficiency rating of Structurally Deficient qualifies the bridge for the Federal Highway Administration’s Highway Bridge Program, which would fund 88.53 percent of the estimated construction cost to replace the bridge. While the Federal Highway Administration provides the funding, the state transportation departments distribute that funding and approve projects. An application to replace the Live Oak Park Road bridge has been sent to the California Department of Transportation.

The county’s Traffic Advisory Committee reviewed the weight limit proposal on March 12 and recommended the temporary weight limit, which will stay in place until the bridge is replaced. “We don’t want to temporarily regulate without a long-term solution,” said TAC secretary Kenton Jones.

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