Construction on Capital City Freeway’s American River bridge to last another year
Construction to widen the Capital City Freeway’s bridge over the American River will finish next summer, Caltrans said, with a projected cost of $211 million.
A spokesperson for Caltrans, Sergio Ochoa Sánchez, said that currently, the work is focused on replacing the surface in southbound lanes. Caltrans is widening the 71-year-old bridge, which will have four full breakdown lanes when completed, rather than narrow shoulders. The agency is also converting one lane in each direction to carpool-only.
Caltrans has said the main goal of the Business 80 project is to replace surfaces traveled on by vehicles, referred to as the bridge deck. The bridge deck had significant cracks in it.
The construction will address damage to the foundation of the bridge that’s exposed to the currents below. Construction began under the bridge in 2022, and road work started in 2023.
Why did a Sacramento highway project cause controversy?
To attempt to mitigate harmful greenhouse gases generated by cars on the road, Caltrans agreed to build out a bike and pedestrian path on the eastern span of the bridge, next to the northbound lanes. The path will connect to the American River Parkway and to a city trail. Once the path opens, it will help close a gap: Currently, there is a four-mile stretch where the only way to get across the river is by vehicle or watercraft. Between the Sacramento Northern Bikeway — a bridge that lets out in midtown on 18th Street — and the H Street Bridge near Sacramento State, there are no crossing options for cyclists and pedestrians.
The city of Sacramento kicked in almost $3 million of Active Transportation Program funding from the Sacramento Area Council of Governments toward the cost of the bike and pedestrian path. The state kicked in $4.3 million.
Because Caltrans is widening a highway facility and personal vehicles contribute an outsize portion of damaging greenhouse gases, the project has stirred some controversy. The Environmental Council of Sacramento sued the agency over its plan to widen the bridge, settling their suit in 2022. At an Active Transportation Commission meeting in January, Sacramento resident Matt Anderson objected to the overall project and said, “This is an apology to future generations: I’m sorry that we let this happen.”
At the same meeting, the Caltrans project manager, Andrew Huang, told the commission that work would finish in December 2026.
This story was originally published July 25, 2025 at 12:00 AM.
