Westside : Lagoon Bridge Reopens to Traffic After 8 Months

It has taken eight months, but the Malibu Lagoon Bridge--which was destroyed in January by torrential rains and is crucial to residents who travel through the area--was officially reopened Thursday.

When the rains buckled the bridge, only foot access was allowed.

And even when two lanes were opened to cars, residents lived with traffic bottlenecks.

Thursday’s reopening ceremony marks the completion of a two-phase bridge construction project.

The first phase--completed in March and 100 days ahead of schedule--opened the bridge to two lanes of traffic. During the second phase, workers refurbished the northbound half of the bridge and expanded it by about 20 feet.

The median strip and road shoulders have been widened a total of 16 feet.

Although the January rainstorm took out the bridge within hours, it already had been scheduled to be replaced this year.

The outdated construction--circa 1925--consisted of pilings driven into the soil with concrete slab supports.

The project was delayed for a month last spring--between March and April--when the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service asked that work on the bridge cease during the spawning period for fish called tidewater gobies.

Malibu Lagoon is the only place the fish can be found in Los Angeles County