Supervisors vote to re-name bridge for Kitty Monahan
SAN JOSE – The Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday to re-name the Alamitos Creek Bridge in honor of the late Kathleen “Kitty” Monahan.
Kathleen Monahan, who preferred to go by Kitty, passed away on July 25, 2022, at the age of 89. Following Kitty’s passing, a member of the New Almaden community contacted County Supervisor Joe Simitian’s office with the idea to re-name the new bridge in her honor.
“Kitty was the heart and soul of New Almaden,” said Supervisor Joe Simitian, who now represents the Almaden area and spearheaded the request. “She did so much to safeguard the environment for future generations, and it’s fitting that her name will be associated with the waters and lands she loved.”
Monahan had been a resident of New Almaden since 1972. She was a beloved preservationist, educator, and historian who spearheaded efforts in 1976 to get Santa Clara County to purchase the 4,163-acre Almaden Quicksilver County Park. She was determined to preserve not just the natural beauty of the Almaden Valley but to preserve the Valley’s history, especially its history of 19th-century mercury mining. Almaden was, at one time, the largest mercury mine in the United States.
In 1983, Monahan helped found the New Almaden Quicksilver County Park Association, or NAQCPA. She later served on the Citizens Advisory Committee of Santa Clara County’s Open Space Authority. During her lifetime she spent at least 14,000 hours volunteering for the County’s park system; she came to be known as the unofficial mayor of New Almaden. She was recognized with a Presidential Volunteer Service Award in 2014, and a lifetime achievement award by the Santa Clara County Preservation Alliance in 2022.
“Some people give a little of themselves and some give it all. Kitty was in the second group,” said Supervisor Wasserman, President of the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors. “Her passion and her smile were infectious, and the fruits of her labor will benefit generations to come. She is very deserving of this honor.”
“Kitty led a life of leadership and good works. And it wasn’t only her environmental service; she was captain of her high school basketball team, she was a nun for 19 years, and she was a math teacher at William C. Overfelt High School,” said Simitian. “A resident of New Almaden got in touch with me and suggested re-naming the bridge for her. I thought it was a great idea.”
When Simitian asked her brother, Richard Monahan, he agreed. “Kitty bridged so many things. Alamitos Creek can be another one,” he said.
Alamitos Creek Bridge crosses the creek on Alamitos Road, approximately one mile south of Bertram Road. The Alamitos Creek Bridge Replacement Project is replacing an existing functionally obsolete bridge with a new bridge on a new alignment. The replacement bridge is adjacent to and upstream of the existing bridge. The new bridge consists of a three-span structure with two lanes of traffic, four-foot shoulders, one sidewalk, and railings. The construction of the new bridge will be completed in 2023. It is expected that signs commemorating the re-naming will also be installed next year.