Hesperia’s aqueduct bridge at Ranchero Road to be demolished, replaced. Lengthy road closure

After years of planning, the bridge over the California Aqueduct on Ranchero Road in Hesperia will be demolished and replaced.

The project includes removing the existing two-lane bridge and constructing a new one with six vehicle travel lanes and shared pedestrian/bicycle pathways. The bridge spans the aqueduct on Ranchero Road between Cottonwood and Seventh avenues, which will be shuttered for the 10-month demolition and construction project.

Beginning Oct. 14, Ranchero Road will be closed between Seventh and Cottonwood avenues, cutting off all travel across the aqueduct, city officials said.

A hard road closure will also be in effect at Kern and Eleventh avenues, where the aqueduct crosses Ranchero Road. Residents within the closed section will still have access to their homes, but no vehicles will be able to pass over the aqueduct.

The two-lane bridge project is expected to be completed in August 2025.

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Detours will be posted and motorists are advised to use Main Street or Summit Valley Road to connect to Highway 138 for access to Interstate 15.

Commuters should expect delays and budget additional time for travel. Obey all posted signs, personnel, and speed limits while traveling near the project, city officials said.

Decades-old bridge

The Ranchero Road aqueduct bridge was constructed in 1969 and was later described as too narrow to efficiently accommodate pedestrians and additional vehicular traffic, city officials said.

The Main Street bridge replacement project was placed on hold while the city focused on the Ranchero Road corridor improvement project from Interstate 15 to the BNSF railway underpass near Santa Fe Avenue.

Earthquake retrofit

Despite knowing the city had planned to widen Ranchero Road and replace the bridge, the California Department of Water Resources required the city to fund an earthquake retrofit project on the aqueduct bridge.

The $560,000 retrofit project began in 2014 and forced the closure of a portion of Ranchero Road, a major route for commuters in the southern end of the city.

In January 2015, water resources representative Brian Moore felt the wrath of the Hesperia Council when he announced the Ranchero Road bridge would not reopen to the public until mid-February of that year, more than three months after its promised completion date.

In 2019, the Hesperia Council reluctantly voted 5-0 to adopt a mitigated negative declaration under the CEQA, which paved the way for the Ranchero Road bridge project, the Daily Press reported.

Retrofitted bridge issues

The retrofitted bridge did not meet the new DWR requirements and could not be expanded.

Due to the height discrepancy from the old to new DWR clearance standards along with the angle of the bridge, constructing an adjacent bridge was not feasible.

For those reasons, demolition of the existing bridge and construction of a new bridge was required, the DWR told the council.

In 2019, former Councilman Bill Holland, who was mayor at that time, said, “Suffice to say, this is bureaucracy at its finest. You have a perfectly good bridge, just retrofitted.”

Eight bridges cross the aqueduct throughout the city and all are owned and maintained by DWR.

In April 2015, the newly retrofitted bridge on Maple was opened to traffic, almost four weeks ahead of the DWR’s schedule.

Increased traffic on Ranchero Road

Daily traffic counts along the Ranchero Road corridor have increased dramatically in recent years due to numerous factors including the completion of Phase 1 in 2013, a $27 million BNSF railway underpass.

Also, the completion of Phase II in 2015, a $60 million freeway Interchange at Ranchero Road and I-15, which included a six-lane bridge over the freeway, on-ramps, off-ramps and other improvements.

Phase III is the nearly completed Ranchero Road widening project from I-15 to the railway underpass, which includes widening the two-lane roadway to four lanes, installing traffic signals and additional improvements.

A portion of Phase III began and was completed in the summer of 2017. The second portion began in December 2021.

Daily Press reporter Rene Ray De La Cruz may be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on X @DP_ReneDeLaCruz

This article originally appeared on Victorville Daily Press: Hesperia aqueduct bridge demolition will close Ranchero Road into 2025