Pioneering plastic bridge opens in Santa Rosa Valley

By Michele Willer-Allred
Posted: Dec. 07, 2012 – Ventura County Star
Santa Rosa Valley resident Gusie Woodfill on Friday
walked her horse Webster across a new bridge with a
special designation that was built over the Arroyo
Santa Rosa.
The pedestrian bridge, which officially opened Friday near
East Las Posas and Santa Rosa roads, has the distinction
of being the first bridge on the West Coast built from
recycled plastic.
While Webster was oblivious to the crowd, which included
state and county officials, Woodfill said the day meant a lot
to the community.
The bridge, built by the Santa Rosa Valley Trails Inc., was
constructed to help connect a portion of a trail washed out
by heavy rain.
“We’re very happy that this bridge is here,” said Woodfill,
who joined neighbors and their dogs and horses to cross
the bridge, which is 25 feet long and 10 feet wide.
Mark Burley, president of Santa Rosa Valley Trails, said
the Santa Rosa Valley Municipal Advisory Council
approved the idea for the bridge about four years ago.
Because the bridge was to be built across Ventura County
Watershed Protection District property, the group also had
to get approval from the county for the project.
That was when Santa Rosa Valley resident John Johs
suggested the bridge be constructed with an alternative
plastic material made by New Jersey-based
Axion International.
Axion CEO Steve Silverman said the company takes
laundry, shampoo and other types of No. 2 recyclable
bottles and combines them with scrapped car bumpers
made from polypropylene encased in fiberglass.
“We put it together in a machine that is patented and we
mold out building products such as railroad ties and
bridges,” Silverman said.
“The weather elements do not affect the product
whatsoever, so water, sun, chemicals, nothing will
deteriorate the product.”
Axion International makes plastic material used for
construction projects on the East Coast and in Europe.
Bridges in Maine and Scotland and railroad bridges at an
Army facility in Virginia have been built from the material.
The U.S. Army has used it to build bridges at Fort Bragg,
N.C., that are capable of carrying 70-ton tanks. Two more
bridges are currently being completed in Ohio.
The material, developed by Rutgers University’s
Department of Materials Science and Engineering, has no
toxic contents, doesn’t leach or warp and is completely
recyclable at the end of its functional life, Axion
officials said.
Dickerson said the recycled material is useful in the area
because of saltwater concentrations in the environment.
Steel rusts, concrete cracks and wood rots, he said.
Marc Green, an Axion co-founder, said the bridge in the
Santa Rosa Valley is the first bridge built with the recycled
material west of Ohio.
John Dickerson, a civil engineer who owns VCE Services,
designed the bridge. Santa Rosa Valley-based DCA
Drilling and Construction built it.
Burley said the cost was about $50,000 and was paid for
by the Santa Rosa Valley group and the Santa Rosa
Valley Riders, an equestrian group. Burley said the bridge
at one point had to be redesigned to comply with the
Americans with Disabilities Act.
State Sen. Fran Pavley, D-Agoura Hills, who came to see
the bridge Friday, said it could be a model for other
projects throughout the state. She said using the
recyclables locally instead of shipping them off to China
makes sense.
Linda Parks voted with other members of the Ventura
County Board of Supervisors to allow the bridge to be
made with the recycled material.
“This will be here a long time. Now that we’ve started this,
we have a lot of bridges that need fixing in the state of
California and our county, and we can continue to use this
product,” Parks said.
Rosemary Allison, chairwoman of the Santa Rosa Valley
advisory council and a real estate agent, said the bridge is
a benefit to the community and horse owners.
Allison said the council is looking to use the recycled
material on a bridge in a Santa Rosa Valley
equestrian park.