Los Angeles County, California Bridges: Schuyler Heim Bridges across the Back Channel in San Pedro Bay

June 2015 (33.7661 Degrees, -118.2394 Degrees) Schuyler Heim Bridges

The photo above was taken 16 years ago of the new (gray) Badger Street Lift Railroad Bridge next to the old (green) Schuyler Heim Lift Bridge. Today, a new Schuyler Heim Bridge is being built and will be completed by the end of 2016 (see photo below).  The Ports were concerned that none of the bridges that carry vehicles on and off Terminal Island were designed to stay in service for the design earthquake. To address this concern, the new Schuyler Heim was allocated an additional 10% for an enhanced seismic design. Caltrans feels confident that all three bridges have a robust seismic design that should keep the highway bridges in service following a large earthquake. The two Ports handle 40% of the goods that move in and out of the U.S. so it's important to minimize disruptions to the transportation system. The Alameda Corridor allows trains to move from the Ports through Los Angeles without any at-grade crossings. Also, a new switching yard is being built next the Ports. With the new Schuyler Heim Bridge, truck traffic should also be able to move into and out of the Ports without disruptions.

Los Angeles County, California Bridges: Schuyler Heim Bridges across the Back Channel in San Pedro Bay by Mark Yashinsky is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Santa Cruz County, California Bridges: Graham Hill Road across the San Lorenzo River

March 2014 (37.05278 Degrees, -122.07194 Degrees) Graham Hill Road Bridge

Just downstream from yesterday's truss arch bridge is a three span haunched box girder bridge across the San Lorenzo River. The Graham Hill Road Bridge (36C0101) was built in 1938 and rehabilitated (widened) in 1989. 

We are in the town of Felton, which like Boulder Creek has a history as a logging town during the later half of the 19th century. This is a pretty and a historic area with a variety of interesting bridges that we'll study over the next few days.

The Graham Hill Road Bridge is a 221 ft long bridge with a 116 ft long main span. The deck is now 78 ft wide and on a 40 degree skew. The bridge is in 'Good' condition, it carries over 25,000 vehicles a day, and it has a sufficiency rating of 85.

Santa Cruz County, California Bridges: Graham Hill Road across the San Lorenzo River by Mark Yashinsky is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Contra Costa County, California Bridges: El Curtola Overcrossing over State Route 24

February 2014 (37.89803 Degrees, -122.085002 Degrees) El Curtola OC

The El Curtola Bridge (28 0125) across State Route 24 is supported by an unusual upside-down 'V shaped bent. The bent splits in two to step over the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) tracks in the middle of the expressway. The tracks are in a trench that becomes a tunnel just east of the bridge.

I previously wrote about this bridge in April of 2010 and mentioned that the bridge had later been retrofitted with steel column casings. However, when I returned this week there were still no column casings! The bridge was constructed in 1971 and improved in 1996, but the improvements apparently didn't include a column casing (it could have been a concrete casing). It will be interesting to see how this oddly-shaped bent performs during the next big earthquake. This area of Contra Costa County is crossed with many faults, including the Franklin Fault that crosses under the adjacent 24/680 Interchange that we will be studying tomorrow.

The El Curtola OC is a cast-in-place prestressed concrete, box girder bridge with two 194 ft long spans and a single very unusual bent. It seems like they could have built this bridge more traditionally with a bent on either side of the BART tracks, but maybe they wanted the columns sloping away from traffic.

Contra Costa County, California Bridges: El Curtola Overcrossing over State Route 24 by Mark Yashinsky is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Solano County, California Bridges: Pleasants Valley Road Bridge across Pleasants Creek

January 2014 (38.47000 Degrees, -122.03972 Degrees) Pleasants Valley Road Bridge

Continuing south on Pleasants Valley Road I had the not unfamiliar experience of crossing and recrossing a creek that followed the road. However, I was surprised that none of these new crossings had replaced earlier (1907 vintage) bridges. My conclusion was that Pleasants Valley Road had been recently realigned with several new bridges (see Google Map below) to cross Pleasants Creek.

Its unfortunate that these new bridges are so uninteresting. They are all cast-in-place, single span, prestressed box girder bridges. Pleasants Creek is dramatic with shear sides and a deep canyon but the bridges were not designed to enhance the view.

This Pleasants Valley Road Bridge (23C0251) is 147.6 ft long and 35.1 ft wide. It is on a slight (15 degrees) skew and it was built in 2006 across Pleasants Creek.

Solano County, California Bridges: Pleasants Valley Road Bridge across Pleasants Creek by Mark Yashinsky is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Sacramento County, California Bridges: Hazel/Folsom POC across the American River

September 2013 (38.63422 Degrees, 121.21081 Degrees) Hazel/Folsom POC

As an alternative to taking the Alder Creek Bridge onto the American River Bike Trail, riders can take the Hazel/Folsom POC (24 0366) over US-50 instead (see Google earth photo below). This bridge was built in 2000. I wonder how they managed to build the falsework over this busy expressway? It's a continuous cast-in-in-place prestressed concrete box girder bridge. It's a 390 ft long bridge composed of three spans on a sharp horizontal curve.

Providing safe bicycle corridors as alternatives to streets and highways may not be cost-effective since thousands of people drive while hundreds of people ride. However, affluent communities are very willing to make the investment.

Sacramento County, California Bridges: Hazel/Folsom POC across the American River by Mark Yashinsky is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

Sacramento County, California Bridges: State Route 16 Bridge across the Cosumnes River

April 2013 (38.49163 Degrees, -121.09161 Degrees) State Route 16 Bridge

Continuing north on Ione Road and west on the Jackson Highway (State Route 16) we came to three interesting bridges in Rancho Murieta. The first bridge carries the highway over the Cosumnes River. The State Route 16 Bridge (24 0080) is a three span continuous, cast-in-place box girder bridge. It is 255 ft long with a 134 ft long center span that was built in 1952.

I think they must have added a sidewalk (supported by steel braces) on the north side of the bridge in the 1980s. At that time, the bridge must have picked up a lot more traffic and needed to get pedestrians off the road. The bridge width is 26 ft curb to curb but it's 37.4 ft from edge of deck to edge of deck.
The bridge is supported on pier walls on each side of the Cosumnes River.

Sacramento County, California Bridges: State Route 16 Bridge across the Cosumnes River by Mark Yashinsky is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.

Yolo County, California Bridges: Capay Bridge across Cache Creek

July 2013 (38.71000 Degrees, -122.04778 Degrees) Capay Bridge

Northwest of yesterday's bridge is the very ordinary looking Capay Bridge across Cache Creek that I stopped at because there was a plaque commemorating the original bridge that stood at this spot until 1997. Apparently you can tear down an old bridge if you save the plaque next to where it once stood.

The Capay Bridge (22C0005) is named after a nearby town. It crosses Cache Creek on CR-85 just north of SR-16. They must have been allowed to keep the bridge number of the older bridge. It's a skinny (35 ft wide) three span prestressed concrete box girder bridge on single column bents. It looks like a single box girder with wide overhangs (and lots of swallow nests). The bridge is 444 ft long with a 160 ft long center span over the creek. They don't say what the old bridge was like but the NBI says it had a sufficiency rating of 49.2% during the inspection in 1992.

Yolo County, California Bridges: Capay Bridge across Cache Creek by Mark Yashinsky is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.

Yolo County, California Bridges: Industrial Blvd Bridge across the Deep Water Canal

July 2013 (38.56083 Degrees, -121.53889 Degrees) Industrial Blvd Bridge and Overhead

From the Elk Slough Bridge we drove north on Jefferson Blvd until we arrived at the Port of Sacramento and the Palmidessi (Industrial Blvd) Bridge and Overhead (22C0158). This is a four span cast-in-place prestressed concrete box girder bridge. It's 543 ft long, 72 ft wide, and it carries four traffic lanes. The bridge was built in 1997, it carries 5000 vehicles a day and has a sufficiency rating of 98.5. Under the bridge we can see some silos where rice is stored for shipment.

Yolo County, California Bridges: Industrial Blvd Bridge across the Deep Water Canal by Mark Yashinsky is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.

Calaveras County, California Bridges: Pool Station Road Bridge across Calaveritas Creek

April 2013 (38.16278 Degrees, -120.67278 Degrees) Pool Station Road Bridge

Pool Station Road is a mile west and parallel to State Route 49 through this part of Calaveras County. Calaveritas Creek continues west of State Route 49 and crosses under this cast-in-place single span box girder bridge.

The Pool Station Road Bridge (30C0035) is a 76 ft long structure on end diaphragm abutments that was built in 2001. The bridge is just south of some abandoned cement silos. However, a prosperous cement plant (owned by Lehigh which was formerly Calaveras Cement) is just to the east on Cement Plant Road. Geologists had found several lenses of limestone in the area which have been mined since the 1920s.

Note the little step dam under the bridge to dissipate energy and prevent flooding.

Calaveras County, California Bridges: Pool Station Road Bridge across Calaveritas Creek by Mark Yashinsky is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.

Amador County, California Bridges: State Route 104 Bridge (26 0050) across Dry Creek

March 2013 (38.37225°, -120.96590°) State Route 104 Bridge

The next crossing over Dry Creek is a railway bridge, but I haven't figured out how to photograph it. There are no roads nearby and railroad companies can be sensitive about non-employees walking along their tracks.

The next highway bridge carries State Route 104 (Ione Michigan Bar Road) over Dry Creek. It is a three span concrete box girder bridge on two-column bents. It's a very ordinary looking bridge that was built in 2005. The superstructure is 202 ft long with a 79 ft long center span. Unlike the previous bridge this one is on a major collector route and carries about 2000 vehicles a day. It is 44 ft wide with two traffic lanes and wide shoulders. It's obviously a cast-in-place concrete bridge since you can still see the grain of the plywood forms on the exterior girder.

I wonder if they were able to complete construction in a single year? I noticed that two of the columns are in the creek, which sometimes results in a shorter construction season so as not to negatively impact the environment. I asked my wife (we met when she was an environmental planner at Caltrans) but she said Dry Creek (at least near the bridge) has no endangered species.

Amador County, California Bridges: State Route 104 Bridge (26 0050) across Dry Creek by Mark Yashinsky is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.

El Dorado County, California Bridges: Sand Ridge Road Bridge across the North Fork of the Cosumnes River

February 2013 (38.5892 Degrees, -120.8447 Degrees) Sand Ridge Road Bridge

We are going back to the Consumnes River but this time we're going to take the North Fork to the east. The first bridge across the North Fork is the Sand Ridge Road Bridge (25C0100). It is a two span continuous box girder bridge built in 1985. Each span is 22.9 m long and they are supported by a pier wall and seat type abutments. There are some kind of metal elements going from the supports to girder overhangs. I don't know what they are for, unless they have something to do with all the swallow nests that have been built on the bridge.

El Dorado County, California Bridges: Sand Ridge Road Bridge across the North Fork of the Cosumnes River by Mark Yashinsky is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.

El Dorado County, California Bridges: State Route 50 Bridge across the SF of the American River

February 2013 (38.7699 Degrees, -120.4484 Degrees) South Fork of the American River Bridge

Today is the last day of our exploration of bridges over the South Fork of the American River and it's tributaries. Just as I still have a few more bridges to photograph on the North and Middle Forks, there are still several interesting bridges across the South Fork that I need to visit. Perhaps this summer I'll spend a week trying to reach some of the more inaccessible bridges across the American Rivers.

Today's bridge (a box girder on pier walls) is used repeatedly to carry State Route 50 from Pollock Pines all the way to Lake Tahoe. They are all called the South Fork of the American River Bridge but this one is Br #25-0008 in Riverton. They are all cast-in-place box girder bridges on pier walls with a minimum of architectural treatment and all of them were built around 1990. The highway and the river are both full of twists and turns and frequently cross each other.

El Dorado County, California Bridges: State Route 50 Bridge across the SF of the American River by Mark Yashinsky is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.

Algeria's Bridges: Connector Ramp in Algiers

July 2003 Connector Ramp  (lat. 36.740· long. 3.123·) Route de l'Armee de Liberation Nationale