Message from our City Manager on the Gulling Street Bridge. - Posted December 27th, 2023.

As some of you already know, Cal Trans did what they call a "routine inspection" on the bridge this month (December 6th) and it was determined that we might have a more critical scouring issue than what's already been known, but needed to wait until the Geotech report was finished before making any decisions. We received that report yesterday with recommendations to limit any traffic to over 5 tons (10,000 pounds). We pleaded to a 6-ton limit restricting to 12k pounds, and they agreed.  So, we're having to divert traffic with any loads heavier than 12,000 pounds, which includes some county snowplows, garbage trucks, school buses, Plumas Transit buses, most big rigs, etc.

Although the official report that places our critical scour rating from a #3 (basically just monitor) to a #2 (immediate repairs and action needed) hasn't been updated, we expect it to be by next week. This is why we took a proactive approach to notifying partner agencies and businesses about the imminent restrictions.  We are already looking into available engineers that specialize in this scope of work and assessment.

For those of you who monitor social media, you may already see a frenzy of activity on the Portola Portal page. Unfortunately, we can't control how people react to information that has been made public as a result of our required outreach.  

For normal use, this shouldn't affect anyone who isn't involved in moving equipment weighing more than 12,000 pounds. It will affect some services, and by next week, we will try to come up with, and approve plans to minimize those disruptions.

We will not restrict any emergency traffic at this time, nor do we foresee that ever happening.  

Jon