Not every delay is the same

The project faced practical constraints. Work on a protected historic structure had to account for anchoring, maintenance, emergency access, whether the changes could later be undone, and historic character. COVID-19 delayed getting materials and building the mockups. The first request for a replacement design consultant also drew no proposals. 1, 16, 24

The pandemic also affected planned funding. In April 2020, the City dropped a proposed new $2 million General Fund appropriation for the bridge from its fiscal year 2021 capital budget to keep money available for essential services. The adopted budget didn’t add a new appropriation for the project and said design would continue, with construction to begin when funds became available. 47

How to pay for construction remained unresolved. Pasadena had funded the design work, but building the permanent barrier would require separate funding. The Eaton Fire required a major City emergency response in January 2025. The bridge records reviewed here don’t link it to a specific project delay. 24, 25, 28

The record also shows real progress. Pasadena chose a physical barrier, funded design work, hired specialists, developed full-scale mockups, and shortened the design schedule by 10 months. Former Pasadena Heritage executive director Sue Mossman later wrote that the process had taken “much longer than anticipated” and that, after so many options and trial runs, “no solution is going to be perfect.”6,8,23

After the Council chose a physical barrier, staff returned with more detailed engineering, cost, and rescue analysis. Some discussions continued to revisit alternatives the City had already studied. 6, 14, 16, 18 Staff concluded that patrols could supplement a barrier but couldn’t replace one. Horizontal netting ran into engineering and rescue problems specific to this bridge. 15, 16, 18 The 2024 survey also showed substantial doubt among respondents about whether a vertical barrier was needed or would work. 19

By July 2024, officials differed over what to do with the answers staff had provided. Jones moved toward a choice. Hampton named vertical mesh as his preferred design but asked that horizontal netting stay on the table. Madison continued to press for measures below the bridge. Gordo kept staffing and technology in the discussion.11,14,15,18,20,21

Mayor Terry Tornek had warned about this in 2018. He said, “This is probably the highest level of consensus we’ll achieve in this process, I predict.” He said agreement would become much harder once specific designs were presented. A few minutes later, as councilmembers debated height and curvature, he called it “a harbinger of the discussion to come.” 7

More than eight years have passed since the Council’s April 2018 decision.6 That span reflects, in part, the difficulty of turning agreement on protection into agreement on a design.