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City Council Unanimously Approves Plan to Apply for State Funding for $32 Million Bridge Across Highway 101
It may be a while until the project comes to fruition, but the Santa Barbara City Council gave unanimous approval on Tuesday to move forward with a grant application process that could help the city fund a $32.5 million bicycle and pedestrian bridge connecting the Lower Eastside neighborhood to the areas just across the freeway such as Dwight Murphy Park, the Santa Barbara Zoo, and the beach.
The project is part of the long-range Lower Eastside Connectivity plan that would include $8.2 million in street safety enhancements — which would be funded completely through the Solutions for Congested Corridors grant program — and the bridge itself, which would stretch from the Eastside near Canada and Pitos streets across Highway 101 to allow pedestrians to exit by Dwight Murphy Park. The project would still need to secure funding through state grants and go through multiple rounds of review.
Project Planner Chelsey Swanson presented the history behind the bridge project, and explained the funding method, which would allow the city to offer matching funds toward the project in order to make the application “more competitive.” The city could pay 20 percent, or $6.5 million, and potentially be approved during the next round of funding, or it could apply without any matching funds to “see how project scores,” Swanson said, and potentially “make the project more competitive for future grant opportunities.”
