Yolo County, California Bridges: UC Davis Pedestrian Bridges across Putah Creek (2)

July 2013 (38.5401, -121.7438 Degrees) UC Davis Footbridges

The other footbridges at the east end of the UC Davis Arboretum are very similar to the ones we studied yesterday. The bridge shown above is composed of two upward-angled beams that are forced into compression by gravity. You need well-founded abutments to make these kinds of bridges work.

The bridge shown below is similar, but with a single bowed Glulam beam instead of two angled beams.

There is also an ordinary concrete T girder footbridge, but with nice handrails (shown below). There are also several road bridges that go over Putah Creek at the UC Davis Arboretum that we will study tomorrow.

Yolo County, California Bridges: UC Davis Pedestrian Bridges across Putah Creek (2) by Mark Yashinsky is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.

Yolo County, California Bridges: UC Davis Pedestrian Bridges across Putah Creek (1)

July 2013 (38.53280 Degrees, -121.75553 Degrees) Putah Creek Pedestrian Bridges

Where Putah Creek runs through the University of California at Davis, they have created an arboretum with a variety of vegetation (and bridges) along the Creek. One of their favorite types of pedestrian bridge is an arch made of big Glulam beams supported on abutments that are too close together so they force the beams to bow upward. They have built two of these bridges across Putah Creek on the west side of the arboretum.

In the top photo the deck is built directly on top of the Glulam beams and so the pedestrian has to climb up and down the arch. On the bridge shown below they have built a separate horizontal deck supported by spandrel columns above the arch. This is a nicer but more expensive option since it is really two bridges; the bridge in the top photo supporting a timber girder bridge on columns.

Yolo County, California Bridges: UC Davis Pedestrian Bridges across Putah Creek (1) by Mark Yashinsky is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.