Rancho Cordova is getting a new ‘iconic’ pedestrian and bike bridge over Highway 50

Sacramento has Tower Bridge. Folsom has the Rainbow Bridge.

Now, Rancho Cordova officials believe it’s time the city had its own iconic bridge.

Earlier this month, Rancho Cordova City Council approved a $3.1 million contract to hire a designer for a planned pedestrian and bike bridge crossing Highway 50. The new bridge along Zinfandel Drive is aimed at improving safety for workers crossing the major freeway that cuts through one of Sacramento County’s busiest employment cores.

“The challenge is that we have many amenities on both sides of the freeway: Education institutions, residential, retail, commercial,” said Albert Stricker, city public works director.

Over the years, Rancho Cordova has been trying to boost accessibility for bicyclists and pedestrians in the city — Stricker pointed to the city’s 25 miles of trails and its bronze rating for bike-friendliness from the League of American Bicyclists as proof. The city is in the process of extending another trail connection, and electric ride-share bikes are set to descend on the city this spring.

But for the city’s 70,000 daily workers, getting around during lunch time or connecting to public transit without a car is still difficult, Stricker said. An insurance employee working south of Highway 50, for example, looking to make the quick bike over the freeway to grab a bite at Chipotle would have to share the road with high-speed cars on Zinfandel Drive.

Highway 50 is an “important regional connection,” Stricker said, “but it does present some connection challenges.”

Rancho Cordova hired engineering firm Dewberry Drake Haglan for $3.1 million to design the new bridge, using federal grants. It will likely be more than a year before a final design is presented, Stricker said, a few more years before funding is secure and the bridge is constructed.

Stricker said the final design will incorporate features that are “iconic.”

“So people driving through or over the bridge, they could recognize it and identify it as Rancho Cordova,” Stricker said.