LONG BEACH : Officials Bow to Protests Over Bridge Design

Naples residents and local boaters who challenged a plan to strengthen the Appian Way Bridge over Alamitos Bay won a reprieve last week, when officials said they will explore other design ideas.

The residents, supported by City Councilman Douglas S. Drummond and the city’s Marine Advisory Commission, had argued that widening the bridge’s pilings to make the structure more earthquake-safe would also have made navigation nearly impossible.

“It isn’t a matter of opposing the retrofit, it’s a matter of finding a better design,” Drummond said. “There’s currents and high winds, and with the amount of activity, there’s going to be problems.”

The bridge, which crosses Alamitos Bay near the Marine Stadium waterway, is a popular thoroughfare for boats, rowing crews and other watercraft.

At a recent meeting in the Naples area that drew about 90 people, U.S. Coast Guard and Los Angeles County officials agreed to look into alternate designs. Although the county is designing and paying for the retrofit, the Coast Guard must give final approval because the bridge covers a navigable waterway.

Boaters argued that the proposed design would leave only about 95 feet between pilings, which would create blind spots and make it difficult to avoid oncoming traffic.

“Visibility is already a problem at the bridge,” said Wayne Till, a Coast Guard official who recently toured the area. The effect of the proposed redesign, he said, “would be like trying to look through a picket fence across the waterway.”

David Sharkey, the county civil engineer who is overseeing the project, said the bridge--and the nearby Davies Bridge--might not be able to withstand an earthquake of magnitude 7.0 or stronger on the Newport/Inglewood fault line. The proposal would have widened the bridge’s center pilings by 17 feet on each side and added cross support at the top of the bridge, at a cost of about $500,000, he said.

The June 14 meeting was called after organizers collected about 500 signatures protesting the proposal. Trish Schooley, who lives near the bridge, organized the opposition. She said the proposed design, with its additional concrete pilings and barriers, also would be an eyesore in the quaint, upscale neighborhood.