Construction Complete on Gold Line Bridge

Nearly 17 months after it began, construction on the $18.6 million Gold Line Bridge is finally complete. The 584-linear-foot bridge is the first element of larger project to extend the Gold Line light rail 11.5 miles from Pasadena to Azusa.

The bridge will connect the existing Sierra Madre Villa Station to the future Arcadia Station at First Avenue and Santa Clara Street. Metro Gold Line Foothill Extension Construction Authority officials say the bridge will serve as "the gateway to the San Gabriel Valley."

Designed by award-winning public artist Andrew Leicester and built by Skanska USA, the bridge is the largest California Department of Transportation project of its kind.

"It was truly a collaborative process," Construction Authority CEO Habib F. Balian said. "It included the community who selected the artist, staff from multiple agencies that shared the vision of the sculptural design and allowed Andrew (Leicester)...to think outside the box girder, our board of directors who supported the vision and the design-build team that made it happen."

The bridge features large columns shaped liked baskets in a nod to the Native Americans who once called the San Gabriel Valley home.

More than 92 percent of the materials used to construct the Gold Line Bridge came from local and regional sources. Also, nearly two-dozen small business enterprises worked on the project's design-build team, and together their contracts totalled $2.3 million, or, 12 percent of the bridge project cost.

The Metro Gold Line Foothill Extension Authority will host a public opening Saturday at 10 a.m. at Newcastle Park, 101 Colorado Blvd. in Arcadia, directly adjacent to the bridge.