The long-promised bridge at Laguna Seca is hoisted into place.

Once again, nature rained on the parade at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca. Only this time it was a trickle, not a flood, and festivities continued.

On Friday morning, April 7, as intermittent sprinkles washed over the area, the first skeletal sections of a new bridge over the front stretch of the venerable race track were hoisted into place by a crane and positioned by workers with Granite Construction as county officials, media and other guests looked on. It marked the final step in the largest improvement project at Laguna Seca since the track surface was last repaved in 2007. (It will be repaved again this year.)

A series of atmospheric rivers in January and again in March delayed progress and caused damage to other parts of the track. As the framework of the bridge was being guided into place on Friday, another crew – this one from Don Chapin Co. – was busy shoring up what had been a slope leading up to one of the most popular spectator viewing areas, overlooking Turn 2. Rains caused much of it to collapse.

“We were about to lose it,” says Barry Toepke of WeatherTech Raceway.

The county Board of Supervisors approved emergency repair work at the end of March, which Randell Ishii, county public works director, says may be eligible for FEMA funds. At the same time, the board voted to accelerate work on the bridge.

The original budget for the bridge and repaving work was $14.9 million. The emergency package adds $3.5 million to the toll.

Crews from Granite Construction have been working double shifts to get the project back on schedule, or at least close to it. “The time had to be made up,” Ishii says. The construction crew lost 37 workdays to the storms, but accelerating the effort has closed the gap: “It looks very optimistic.”

The bridge is used by an estimated 75 percent of event attendees. The facility torn down last fall dated back to the late 1970s, and track president John Narigi has said that it would not have survived inspection.

Toepke expects the new bridge, which will accommodate golf carts as well as foot traffic and have more safety features, to be completed in time for Trans Am Speedfest in May. However, it will not be approved to carry traffic until July, when the MotoAmerica Superbike series arrives. Still, Toepke says, “this represents a huge step forward for the facility and the county.”

County Supervisor Mary Adams – who represents District 5, which includes the track – explains that without the new structure in place, Laguna Seca would have lost sponsorship dollars. “It’s an integral part of the future of the track,” Adams says. “This is an incredible asset.”

The six major events at Laguna Seca in 2022 – Rennsport Reunion will make seven for 2023 – generated almost $247 million in local spending, according to a study by the CSU Monterey Bay College of Business.

The repaving project will have to wait some more. In May, work crews will again take over the iconic track.

If nature cooperates.