The Los Angeles Section of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE-LA) has named the recently completed Oso Parkway Bridge its 2021 Roadway and Highway Project of the Year.

The nearly $40 million project opened on Jan. 13 and was the three-year product of a partnership between the Transportation Corridor Agencies (TCA), County of Orange and Caltrans.

The bridge provides a direct connection between the 241 Toll Road and Los Patrones Parkway. It offers six lanes of travel (three in each direction), adds dedicated bike lanes and sidewalks. The addition of a new sidewalk on the south side of Oso Parkway enhances safety for students and families accessing Tesoro High School.

TCA funded the nearly $40 million project and established a partnership with OC Public Works to oversee construction. The new bridge improves mobility and connectivity in southern Orange County, diverting traffic from congested surface streets and providing improved access to businesses and restaurants in areas such as Rancho Mission Viejo, Ladera Ranch, Mission Viejo and Rancho Santa Margarita.

In March 2021, the project received the 2021 Bridge Project of the Year award from the ASCE Orange County Branch. In receiving the section award, the project bested submissions from six other counties.

“We are extremely proud to see this project receive recognition, just as proud as we are of the successful partnerships that led to the project’s completion,” said TCA Chief Executive Officer Samuel Johnson. “To be honored at the branch level is quite an accomplishment, but to receive recognition at the section level is a testament to our guiding principles of increasing mobility and finding innovative solutions.”

As a section award recipient, the Oso Parkway Bridge Project will be one of the official nominees for an ASCE Region 9 Award. It will compete against submissions from San Francisco, San Diego and Sacramento.

With approximately 8,000 members in the Los Angeles Section, ASCE-LA is the second-largest section in the nation in ASCE network. ASCE represents an international profession that plans, designs, constructs and operates the built environment, while protecting and restoring the natural environment.

The Transportation Corridor Agencies (TCA) are two joint powers authorities formed by the California Legislature in 1986 to plan, finance, construct and operate Orange County’s public toll road system comprised of the 73, 133, 241 and 261 Toll Roads.