Highway 101 Pedestrian/Bicycle Bridge Update

Published on July 28, 2021

The Highway 101 Pedestrian/Bicycle Bridge project has made significant progress over the last several months. Some key milestones were: 

• Installation of the steel trusses over Highway 101 and East and West Bayshore Roads.
• Completion of reinforcing steel and concrete deck pouring over the steel trusses. 
• Pavement of Adobe Creek Reach Trail and completion of East Approach landing. 
• Irrigation, landscaping, and miscellaneous electrical and lighting work. 

The key construction items remaining are the bridge architectural railing fabrication process including galvanization and staining, fencing, and railing lights installation. The railing fabrication process is the critical path for completing the bridge, but fabrication has been hindered by a combination of supply chain issues (steel and trucking shortages), fabrication shop limitations due to pent-up demand / Covid-19 restrictions, and some design changes due to the uniqueness of the railing design. These factors have caused the project completion date to be pushed from this summer into the fall, tentatively by the end of October. 

With the architectural railing constituting the majority of the remaining work, construction activities in the field may be slower in September for a few weeks as the remaining railing components are fabricated and delivered to be installed. The City is working with the contractor and Santa Clara Valley Water District to open the newly constructed Adobe Creek Reach Trail for public use in advance of the entire project completion. Details will be provided in the next couple of weeks for opening date of the trail. The City is monitoring the schedule impacts closely and will provide updates about the progress as we approach project completion.