Shasta County Bridges: Pedestrian Bridge across Big Chico Creek

February 2018 (39.731, -121.844) Big Chico Creek Bridge

I drove to Chico to visit my granddaughter who took me on a tour of Chico State University. Winding its way through campus is the Big Chico Creek with several bridges that carry students to class.

This week's structure is a prefabricated through truss pedestrian bridge made of Corten steel by Big R Bridges out of Greeley, Colorado. I though the red color went nicely with all the trees on campus. There is a sign by the bridge that states the maximum load is 72,000 lbs. That is the load of an AASHTO LRFD HL 93 truck whose three axles are 32 kips, 32 kips, and 8 kips. I would imagine that the allowable pedestrian load is much higher.

The bridge looks pretty strong and it's carrying a large utility load on both overhangs (see photo below). This bridge is a Pratt truss because it carries the load through diagonal members sloping toward the center of the bridge. I count 12 - 8 ft long truss panels.

There is a tab screwed onto the ends of the truss with the vehicle loading (HL-93), a serial number, and the date the bridge was manufactured (January 2016). It's funny they designed this pedestrian bridge for a vehicular load. Maybe in an emergency it must be able to carry a truck load.  Information on when it was placed at the site (and the bridge's name) wasn't available.

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