Brand new bridge along Sacramento trail is already broken. It was never used.

By James Taylor

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    SACRAMENTO, California (KOVR) — Sacramento’s Del Rio Trail opened in May with a bike and pedestrian path that starts near Land Park and extends through the pocket neighborhood.

Now, just months later, the trail’s multi-million dollar bridge is still blocked off, broken beyond repair.

“People have been wondering for a while now, what is happening with that bridge,” said Kristina Rogers, president of the Land Park Neighborhood Association.

The five-mile-long trail was supposed to allow people to safely cross over Interstate 5, but now the path suddenly ends at Riverside Boulevard, forcing people to turn around.

“It’s a problem because that last bit of connector connects the trail to the Sacramento River trail, which then gets you downtown,” said Jeremiah Rohr with the Sacramento Area Bicycle Advocates.

The City of Sacramento says inspectors found construction problems with the bridge, and that has neighbors like Rogers concerned.

“Bottom line, it was not built correctly. If you go up there, you can see the core samples that were taken,” Rogers said.

CBS13 obtained a letter from the city to the bridge builder, Mountain Methods, Inc., outlining the deficiencies which include using “lightweight concrete and rebar.”

“You can’t put it into words sometimes. You go, ‘How did that go wrong?’ ” Rohr said.

The bad bridge is a big disappointment to bike advocates like Rohr.

“Whether it was an oversight on the engineering department, or the city department, or on the construction crew, something should be done and somebody needs to be held accountable,” he said.

City engineers say that using the unauthorized materials does not conform with contract standards. They’re now demanding Mountain Methods, Inc. tear it down and rebuild it with authorized materials.

“Get it down and get it built back up again. A delay on this would certainly be a disappointment,” Rohr said.

“It’s sad that people have to wait but I would rather be safe than sorry,” Rogers said.

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