The board voted unanimously on Feb. 7 to tear down the aging bridge and build a wider, longer bridge in its place. The $3 million project will break ground in May and be completed by March 2007.

The bridge will be closed during construction, and traffic will be diverted to Alma Avenue and Malone Road. Galarza Elementary Hammer Montessori School students who use the bridge to walk to campus near the corner of Willow Glen Way and Bird Avenue will be bused to their school, Santa Clara Valley water district project manager Todd Inman said.

The bridge replacement is part of the water district's Upper Guadalupe River Flood Protection project. The project was developed to provide flood protection for 7,500 properties between Interstate 280 and Blossom Hill Road.

Along with the need to widen the bridge to accommodate the water district's flood protection project, the Willow Glen Way bridge needed seismic retrofitting, Inman said. The bridge was built in 1916 and was weakened by the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake and flooding in 1995 and 1998.

The new bridge will be 47 feet longer and 13 feet wider than the original structure. The new bridge will accommodate a two-lane road, a sidewalk and bike lanes on both sides.

Three years ago, the community feared the new bridge would be a concrete eyesore for the neighborhood, which was accustomed to the old bridge's yesteryear charm.

In response to the community's concern, the water district hired an architect who added stone facing, a special railing design, lighting and signs to transform the bridge from eyesore to eyeful.

"It's important to have a new bridge because the old one is falling apart," Guadalupe Avenue resident Susan Kusters said, "but we cared about the aesthetics of the bridge because we've seen examples of other bridges in the neighborhood we didn't want."

Kusters thinks the changes look great and looks forward to the project's completion.

The project is a joint venture between San Jose and the water district and is funded largely by the Federal Highway Administration, whose monies are administered by Caltrans. The city approved the project in 2003.