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Governor Brown Signs AB 1523, Providing Expedited Construction Process for Mt. Vernon Bridge

For immediate release:
A women and child walk along the Mt. Vernon Bridge that goes over the BNSF rail yard in San Bernardino in this August 2013 photo. (File photo by Stan Lim / Southern California News Group)

Sacramento – Yesterday, Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. signed AB 1523 by Assemblymembers Eloise Gómez Reyes (D- Grand Terrace) and Assemblymember Jay Obernolte (R- Big Bear). AB 1523 will allow an expedited construction process to be used to begin much needed repairs to the Mt. Vernon Bridge that serves as a major transportation artery for San Bernardino.

“I am proud to have joined my colleague, Assemblymember Jay Obernolte as a joint author of AB1523. The Mt. Vernon viaduct is a top priority and with AB1523's passage, we are closer to rebuilding the bridge that connects our communities in the heart of San Bernardino,” said Assemblymember Reyes. “The Mt. Vernon Bridge in San Bernardino serves as the main artery between the city and the west side. This connection ensures that working families and communities are not cut off from the rest of the city.”

“The Mt. Vernon Bridge has been in need of a major safety renovation for 20 years,” Assemblymember Obernolte said. “AB 1523 gives us a tool to undertake that construction project in an efficient process that limits the delays of bureaucratic red tape.”

Built in 1934, the bridge has been declared structurally deficient and functionally obsolete by Caltrans since 1997. The bridge has been closed off twice to traffic since 2004, when inspectors found cracks in its steel columns that support the bridge deck and needed to shore them up, which they did in four locations. In 2008, Caltrans again found additional cracks and shored them up in three additional locations. Closed to commercial traffic to slow its deterioration, the bridge still sees 60,000 motorists a day cross over it.

Having been signed by Governor Brown, AB 1523 will become law Jan. 1, 2018. For more information on the bill, click here.

Assemblymember Eloise Gómez Reyes represents Assembly District 47 which includes the cities of Fontana, Rialto, Colton, Grand Terrace, San Bernardino and the unincorporated areas of Muscoy and Bloomington.

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Contact: Galen Dobbins, galen.dobbins@asm.ca.gov, (916) 319-2047