Santa Cruz County, California Bridges: South Marsh to Hummingbird Island Ford across a tributary of Elkhorn Slough

October 1997 (36.824025 Degrees, -121.73945 Degrees) South Marsh Ford

A ford is an inexpensive bridge designed to carry people across bodies of water when they are below flood stage and to survive with minor damage during flood stage. We have studied fords in India and also in many rural parts of California where there is no money to build a bridge.

Today's ford carries pedestrians from South Marsh to Hummingbird Island across a tributary of the Elkhorn Slough. We can see a transmission tower from the Moss Landing Power Plant, which is nearby on the beach.

Santa Cruz County, California Bridges: South Marsh to Hummingbird Island Ford across a tributary of Elkhorn Slough by Mark Yashinsky is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Amador County, California Bridges: Quartz Mountain Road Ford under the South Fork Dry Creek

April 2013 (38.4692°, -120.7960°) Quartz Mountain Road Ford

In my blog of September 8, 2011 I wrote about fords carrying storm runoff or spring floods without eroding the road and without endangering the passing motorist. Last weekend I drove on the dirt roads south of Fiddletown hoping to find some bridges that carry the Quartz Mountain, Gold Valley, and New Chicago Roads over the South and Middle Forks of Dry Creek. Instead I found a number of concrete fords that were built to prevent the creeks from eroding the dirt roads. These 60 ft long concrete slabs appear to do an excellent job of protecting the roads while allowing the creeks to flow.

That concludes the examination of bridges across Dry Creek and its tributaries. The bridges include:
A: The New Cook Road Bridge (26C0048) shown on April 1st and 2nd.
 #: Southern Pacific Railroad Bridge (closed) that I didn't photograph.
 +: Superstucture of the Old Cook Road Bridge (abandoned near golf course).
B: State Route 104 (26 0050) Ione Michigan Bar Road Bridge shown on April 3rd.
C: Willow Creek Road Bridge (26C0015) shown on April 4th and 5th.
D: State Route 124 (26 0028) E Plymouth Highway Bridge shown March 29th to 31st and April 6th.
E: State Route 49 (26 0018) Golden Chains Highway Bridge shown on April 7th.
F/G: Fords on Quartz Mountain and New Chicago Roads (Quartz Mountain Road shown today).
H: Fiddletown Road Bridge (26C0053) shown on April 8th.
I: Jibboom Street Bridge (26C0039) a single span slab bridge that I didn't photograph.
J: Fiddletown Road Bridge (26C0021) shown on April 9th.

Amador County, California Bridges: Quartz Mountain Road Ford under the South Fork Dry Creek by Mark Yashinsky is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.