Groundbreaking Set for Arroyo Bridge

With a quick, simple ceremony Jan. 25, Moorpark’s years-long effort to build a pedestrian bridge across the Arroyo Simi will soon reach fruition.

City officials will hold a groundbreaking ceremony for the bridge at 10 a.m. that day. Construction of the 161-foot structure, which will cross the stream south of Liberty Bell Road, should begin in earnest by the end of January and finish before August.

The ceremony will be held almost one year after 11-year-old Joel Burchfield died in the stream--near the bridge’s future location--while walking home from school after a rainstorm. The spot has long been a popular shortcut for children, who wade through the normally shallow water.

Moorpark officials had pursued plans for building a bridge before Joel’s drowning. However, efforts slowed to a crawl last year as the city wrangled with Southern California Edison, which owned land needed for the project.

Appalled by the lack of progress, Joel’s parents and friends began writing Edison and attending City Council meetings en masse, urging both sides to reach an agreement. In December, the city finally won access to the needed property in a condemnation proceeding after Edison dropped several of its conditions for cooperation.

The groundbreaking ceremony will be held at the southern end of Liberty Bell Road.