Dear Friends

We recently marked the three-year anniversary of Max’s tragic death at the San Diego River Crossing at Mission Trails Regional Park. It is fortuitous that the project to build the Max Lenail Memorial Bridge is making good progress. We’re aiming for construction in 2025, early 2026 at the latest.

We (Ben and Laurie), in partnership with our friends at the Mission Trails Regional Park Foundation, have selected a beautiful design for the bridge to honor Max. Safdie-Rabines Architects and KPFF Consulting Engineers presented several options, including the conventional truss design from 2022. We chose a striking design with glulam arches. The Bridge will be 130 feet in length, and 8 feet in width, allowing for shared use by pedestrians and mountain bikers.  

We will present the design at the March 5 meeting of the Mission Trails Regional Park Citizens Advisory Committee (CAC). The new Chair of the CAC, Kevin Loomis, has been very supportive of the project. We will incorporate the CAC’s input. I will then present the design at the March 21 meeting of the Mission Trails Regional Park Task Force, chaired by Councilmember Raul Campillo, to get approval. 

This final design will inform our detailed budget, plans for construction readiness, and permit applications.

In November 2023 and January 2024, we conducted deep borings at the site. The geotech team produced a superb 65-page report on the site, construction planning, and bridge foundations.

We are getting ready to file key permit applications, including for the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), and are hoping for a fast-track mitigated negative declaration rather than a full Environmental Impact Review (EIR).

On a wonderful side note, San Diego State University (SDSU) has assigned the Max Lenail Memorial Bridge as a capstone project to civil engineering student T.J. Peck. It turns out T.J. is a close friend of Sierra and Hallie Fang-Horvath, who were Max’s housemates in San Diego.

The recent catastrophic floods of the San Diego River remind us of the urgent and absolute necessity of the bridge to guarantee the safety of Park users and outdoors enthusiasts. 

We are grateful for your continued interest and support!

Ben and Laurie

www.BridgeforMax.com