The San Bernardino County Department of Public Works is seeking a $30 million grant to assist it in the rehabilitation of 27 timber bridges that were constructed prior to or in the early stage of the completion of Route 66 through the Mojave Desert.
Department of Public Works Director Brendon Biggs this week was given clearance by the county board of supervisors to make a digital submission of a grant application to the United States Department of Transportation’s Multimodal Project Discretionary Grant Program.
If successful, the county’s reception of the money would require that it venture at least 20 percent of the estimated $79 million cost toward completing the project.
The 27 timber bridges, all of which are of a length of no more than 20 feet, are located at various spots on the National Trails Highway, between Daggett/Yermo Road and Amboy Road.
The National Trails Highway, also known as the National Old Trails Road or as the Ocean-to-Ocean Highway, was established in 1912. At 3,096 miles, it stretched from Baltimore to California. In the Southwest, it traced much of the old National Road and the Santa Fe Trail. Much of the road, from Colorado west became Route 66 in 1926 and from Colorado east became U.S. Route 40 in 1926.
Route 66 for nearly 60 years was a primary travel route from Los Angeles to Chicago. In 1985, it was decertified as a national highway and has been supplanted in large measure by Route 40. Historic Route 66 in San Bernardino County nevertheless remains important to both local and regional traffic circulation. The section of the National Trails Highway between Daggett/Yermo Road and Amboy Road provides an alternate route when Interstate 40 experiences unanticipated emergency closures due to accidents, freeway construction, or storm events. The United States Marine Corps also utilizes National Trails Highway as a critical route for the movement of heavy equipment necessary for national defense training activities in the region. There are along that stretch, according to Biggs, 33 bridges that are 20 feet or less in length that were constructed in the 1920s and 1930s that are now beyond their intended design life and would benefit from reconstruction to maintain public safety and the structural integrity of the roadway. Six of those bridges are being replaced with funding from the San Bernardino County Transportation Authority.
The county’s public works department is requesting funding under the Multimodal Project Discretionary Grant Program to supplement funding from San Bernardino County Transportation Authority for the reconstruction of the other 27 bridges.
Under the terms of the Multimodal Project Discretionary Grant Program, which supplies partial funding for undertakings known as Rural Surface Transportation projects, a minimum local match of 20 percent is required for the federal money to be disgorged. Similarly, a local match of 40 percent is required of the beneficiaries of Infrastructure for Rebuilding America grants. The federal government, however, allows up to half of the local match money for Infrastructure for Rebuilding America grants to be derived from other federal funds. The San Bernardino County Transportation Authority committed to allocating $49,000,000 for use by the county as the local match. Funding sources for the local match amount will be funded with Local Partnership Program, Surface Transportation Program and State Transportation Improvement Program funds administered by the San Bernardino County Transportation Authority.
The county at this point is merely competing for the grants.
Under the United States Department of Transportation Multimodal Project Discretionary Grant Program, the money can be used to replace bridges that are 20 feet or less in length. Bridges 20 feet or less in length are not eligible for the Federal Highway Bridge Program funding and the county must find other funding sources to reconstruct those bridges. The Multimodal Project Discretionary Grant Program has an August 21, 2023 application deadline.
-Mark Gutglueck