Mendocino County's Green Bridge Collapses, Forcing 6.5-Mile Detour for Residents ● UPDATING

A 101-year-old bridge on Hill Road in Mendocino County, known locally as the Green Bridge, collapsed on June 12, 2026, as a vehicle crossed over Mill Creek near Covelo. The driver suffered minor injuries and climbed out of the vehicle after it rolled onto its roof near the water.

The bridge, a single-lane, wood-deck steel truss built in 1925, gave way without a washout, simply failing under the weight of the car. Mill Creek was near its summer low at the time.

The collapse has severely impacted east-side Round Valley residents, who now face an extra 6.5-mile detour north on Hill Road, then west on East Lane to Highway 162. The situation is particularly concerning as fire season has begun, and the bridge's weight limit had already prevented Cal Fire's larger bulldozers from using it.

Now, with no bridge at all, emergency vehicles must take the same lengthy route.

Mendocino County had been trying to replace the structurally deficient bridge since 2012. A 2020 environmental study outlined plans for a two-lane replacement, with construction originally scheduled between March and November 2024.

However, delays in each phase pushed the timeline back. The final step—Caltrans releasing federal construction funds—was still incomplete when the bridge collapsed.

Caltrans officials say the county was finishing paperwork to unlock the funds, with approval expected by the end of June 2026. The county's transportation director, Howard Dashiell, estimates a two- to three-year wait for the new bridge, and no temporary crossing is planned due to the need for private land, separate environmental permits, and annual removal to survive winter high water.

The federal government had allocated $2.73 million for the new bridge, but funding is released in stages. By April 2021, only $869,000 had been released for early work.

The construction money remained locked when the bridge fell. The old bridge had a federal structural evaluation rating of 2, indicating it was "basically intolerable requiring high priority of replacement." Inspectors rated both the deck and main structure as "poor" in August 2023, though it was deemed safe under posted weight limits of 10 to 20 tons.

The county is now seeking emergency permits to remove the debris from Mill Creek before winter rains, aiming to complete clearance between October and November 2026. The plan is to seek bids soon for a single contract covering debris removal and new bridge construction.

The Round Valley Indian Tribes and the Round Valley Unified School District did not respond to requests for comment.