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OCEANSIDE: Pacific Street Crossing finally meets its end
New harbor bridge takes over for venerable structure
By PAUL SISSON - Staff Writer | ∞
The removal of the Pacific Street crossing started this week just south of the Oceanside Harbor. The crossing, which was replaced by the Pacific Street Bridge, was prone to being washed out by heavy rains. (Photo by Jamie Scott Lytle - Staff Photographer) 
The removal of the Pacific Street crossing started this week just south of the Oceanside Harbor. (Photo by Jamie Scott Lytle - Staff Photographer) OCEANSIDE ---- A long-armed excavator worked this week to remove the final boulders and metal pipes that have kept the Pacific Street Crossing in place for decades.
"We should be finished with removing everything and knocking it down by Halloween," said David Toschak, manager of the city's Pacific Street Bridge project.
On Sept. 9, the city opened the crossing's replacement, a modern 351-foot concrete bridge that cost $18 million. With the new bridge serving as a second entrance and exit for Oceanside Harbor, the old crossing has become redundant.
Crews worked this week to remove tons of protective "rip rap" boulders and steel pipes that allowed the San Luis Rey River to pass under the sand-and-rock crossing.
After all of the hard stuff gets hauled away, Toschak said bulldozers will flatten the sand berm underneath. Soon all that will remain is a large lump of sand at the river mouth. The project manager said he expects Mother Nature to remove the sand this winter.
"Without the rip rap, the next big storm will just wash it out," Toschak said.
It will be an ironic end for a structure that the city of Oceanside has rebuilt and fought to protect from winter storms for decades. John Daley, local historian and owner of the 101 Cafe, said the crossing opened shortly after the Oceanside Harbor was completed in 1963. Heavy storms, he said, would wash the structure out to sea every four years or so.
Once, in the 1980s, Daley said the city refused to rebuild the crossing, so he and a group of contractors did the job themselves.
"We took it to (the) Coastal (Commission) and everything," Daley said. "I think it probably cost like $10,000 or $15,000 back at that time."
Today the crossing creates a kind of shallow pool between the new bridge and the old crossing. No one seems sure what will happen to the birds and plants that currently live in the area once the river mouth is opened to the sea.
Daley said the area around the San Luis Rey river mouth was known as "beach lake" before the harbor was built.
"It would close off in the summer and form a big lagoon," Daley said. "I remember it was big enough that they actually had boats on it with people (water) skiing."
Meanwhile, work is almost complete on remaining components of the bridge project. Workers are putting the finishing touches on reconstructed harbor parking lots that were disturbed by the construction process.
Parking lots six, seven, nine and 10 are to be closed from Nov. 10-14 for final asphalt sealing and striping. During that time, the city asks harbor visitors to park in lots eight and one.
Contact staff writer Paul Sisson at (760) 901-4087 or psisson@nctimes.com.
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Arlo wrote on Oct 22, 2008 2:31 PM:How are they going to save that beach then? Will this not flood that area and eventually wash it away also?
Sand Comes Down the River wrote on Oct 22, 2008 3:36 PM:It will actually help with the erosion problem, except so much water has been diverted that it will not have a practical effect
Credit where due wrote on Oct 23, 2008 6:52 AM:Another project Mayor Wood can take credit for that he had absolutely no involvement with.
Rick Kay Says wrote on Oct 23, 2008 11:54 AM:18 million dollar bridge? Just think we could have done it for about 3 million dollars if we had done it about 30 years ago. In the last 30 years that road has washed out about 10 times but our city government said it was cheaper to rebuild the washed out road instead of investing in the bridge back then. Lets see at about 100K to rebuild the washaway road times 10 that would be a million. So if we would have built the bridge 30 years ago instead of listening to our experts in city hall we could have saved taxpayers some 16 million dollars. Oh well us taxpayers don't know anything just how to foot the bill. Maybe we should have contacted Sarah Palin when she was trying to get her money for the bridge to no where and we could have had our bridge sooner.
Kudos to Oceanside government for finally using its brain! How was John Daley able to build a temporary road with all the government red tape. I thought he was a cafe owner/historian not a licensed contractor.
robert wrote on Oct 23, 2008 12:46 PM:18 million! give nme a breack. 350 feet of bridge does not cost that much! we need an audit asap and cost limitations for all projects.
JJ wrote on Oct 23, 2008 3:07 PM:There was a delightful trailer park down there when I was a kid. A classic Oceanside eyesore. They used to hold the Sand Drags on the site as well. I remember councilman Bill Bell wanted to have the Marines (and Army Corp) build a bridge there 35 years ago as a training exercise to save the city money. Today we spend 18M? Yikes!
Rick to JJ wrote on Oct 23, 2008 4:45 PM:Thanks JJ for confirming that I am not the only one who remembers how many times that road has washed out and we kept asking for a bridge but our city staff told us no it is cheaper to replace the roads each year.
Dude wrote on Oct 23, 2008 7:22 PM:The bridge is 650 feet, not 350 feet. And there is more to that $18 million than just the bridge, including new water line, sewer line, electrical line, gas line, as well as the walls and earthwork require to make the bridge accessible. Plus, they wanted a bridge that looks beautiful. It may have cost the City/taxpayers, but they got a fine product. I imagine you missed the city meetings when the decisions to build the bridge were made. If you hate it so much, don't use it ya haters.
Hey Mayor Wood wrote on Oct 23, 2008 10:24 PM:How about fixing the traffic on College Blvd like you promised or perhaps get the police shooting range moved to Camp Pendleton like you promised. Enough with this expensive bridge serving only a few harbor businesses and out of town guest.
You Aint Seen Nothing Yet wrote on Oct 24, 2008 7:36 AM:Today is financial global melt down day; time for the City to fess up that the recently bestowed General Employee Retirement Benefit increases broke the bank. We will all be paying these costs for years to come. How does your 401 K look today? We have Wood and Sanchez to thank for the local mess, anything to pay back union support.
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