Napa County, California Bridges: Napa Creek Arch Bridges in Downtown Napa

November 2013 (38.3006, -122. 2867) Napa Creek Arch Bridges

Continuing downstream along Napa Creek we crossed the wide Pearl Street Bridge (21C0097). This is a stone arch carrying traffic lanes and sidewalks that was built in 1920. A little further downstream is an unnamed little stone arch in the 9/11 Memorial Park. I've seen girders from the World Trade Center in Christchurch New Zealand and now in Napa California (see last photo). 

Just beyond Memorial Park is the Main Street Bridge (21C0044), which was built in 1860 and rehabilitated in 1985. It's 55 ft long and only 24 ft wide (see photos below). 

The Main Street Bridge has a pretty wrought iron railing and a deck that overhangs the arch (perhaps the 1985 improvement?). Even with the widened deck the road narrows significantly to accomodate the bridge. It carries 11,000 vehicles a day and has a sufficiency rating of only 36.7. 

This is a very shallow arch and so there's barely room for the cap stone. I wonder if the deck is helping carry the live load? The bridge is tucked into stone retaining walls since the creek is being crowded by parks, parking lots, an opera house, and other newly completed construction.

Napa County, California Bridges: Napa Creek Arch Bridges in Downtown Napa by Mark Yashinsky is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.