It's a bridge that can't handle the weight of a school bus, and yet it's surrounded by a school, a church and a wilderness park in Orange County, and some want it closed.
On Tuesday, the Orange County Board of Supervisors voted to keep the "bridge to nowhere" open until May 11.
The temporary Amwa Bridge was built more than 37 years ago in 1979 by the South Orange County Water Management Association on land owned by the county.
Now, decades later after a Mormon church has built a structure on the other side of the bridge, closing it is not an option for community members who want to access a trail, as well as members who need to get to the church.
The big problem: No one wants to take long term financial responsibility if the bridge fails.
Hikers, churchgoers, and students at Wood Canyon School all use the Amwa Bridge because it's the only way in the Aliso and Wood Canyons Wilderness Park.
The bridge was only supposed to serve the purpose of allowing workers to move their trucks into the Aliso Viejo plant in 1979. Plant officials now contend the bridge is at the end of its "useful" life and want to close it.
There are cracks and crevices underneath, which engineers say serve as evidence that the tiny former two lane road is no longer safe.
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But other stakeholders in the community say the decision to close the bridge off Alicia Parkway and Amwa Road will affect two cities, a school district, and church.
"It's a great resource we have here in south OC, these wilderness parks," Rene Hernandez, a mountain biker, said. "Losing access to this park is a kind of a big deal for people who live down here."
Members of a Mormon church on the other side of the bridge are concerned, as it's the only way to drive to the place where they worship frequently.
"We come to church every morning," Karina Penkethman, church member, said. "We come to pick up kids at a school which is just up the road, so every day, a couple times a day."
The South Orange County Wastewater Authority placed a guard on the bridge to monitor traffic. They cut it down to one lane only. But with the structure's integrity in question, the only solution to that the board thinks is viable is to close the bridge.
"We do see the bridge is used by overweight vehicles and if we don't keep a security person there we're truly concerned that a vehicle over eight tons could cause the bridge to fail," Betty Burnett of the South Orange County Wastewater Authority said.
But church leaders say it's not so simple: Their building is used daily by scouts, recovery groups and nearly 2,000 members.
"It's just we don't want access completely cut off while socwa negotiates a long-term solution with the county," Mark Boud, spokesman for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, said.
Tuesday afternoon, a temporary solution was reached for the "temporary" bridge, keeping it open until early May.
To complicate matters further, Wood Canyon Elementary School officials said the church is also part of their emergency plan where students would be reunited with parents in case of emergency.
The final blow: The cost of rebuilding the bridge is estimated at about $4 million.
