El Dorado County's new Mosquito Bridge to open, replacing historic one-lane crossing
An opening date has been announced for the new Mosquito Bridge in El Dorado County.
The El Dorado County Department of Transportation said the bridge will open for public use Saturday, Sept. 26.
County officials will hold an opening celebration the day before, but drivers will have to wait until Saturday to use the new crossing.
The opening will cap years of construction and an even longer effort to replace the aging bridge over the South Fork of the American River northeast of Placerville.
The existing Mosquito Road Bridge is a 9-foot-wide, one-lane timber suspension bridge with a 140-foot span. While the crossing traces its history to 1867, the bridge was largely rebuilt in 1939 using the original foundations.
County officials have long considered the old bridge structurally deficient and functionally obsolete, with its narrow width, steep approaches and hairpin turns also limiting access for emergency vehicles serving the Mosquito and Swansboro communities.
The replacement takes a much more direct route across the steep South Fork American River canyon. County plans called for a bridge nearly 1,200 feet long and roughly 400 feet above the river, eliminating several of the hairpin turns that lead to the old crossing.
El Dorado County supervisors awarded the construction contract in May 2022. Work since then has included realigning portions of Mosquito Road, building the bridge and its approaches, and completing the final roadway connections, barriers and other improvements.
The project has also required repeated closures of Mosquito Road, including a lengthy closure this summer while crews worked on drainage, concrete structures and other finishing work.
County budget documents have put the overall project cost at about $102 million, with virtually all of the funding coming through the federal Highway Bridge Program.
