Stanislaus County, California Bridges: Old Basso Bridge across the Tuolumne River

September 2014 (37.64553, -120.49589 Degrees) Old Basso Bridge

There are many older bridges across the Tuolumne River in Stanislaus County but most of them are now closed to traffic. The Old Basso Bridge is a 373 ft bridge with a 286 ft long Pennsylvania through truss main span. These are a type of Pratt truss that includes a polygonal top chord, pins and cross-braces at different heights, and diagonal members that continue across several panels (see generic example below).

This type of design allowed lightweight structures and very long spans. It was named after the Pennsylvania Railroad that favored this design. We previously encountered this truss at the Healdsburg Bridge in Sonoma County.

E. H. Annear was the county engineer and Pacific Construction was the builder for this bridge in 1911. The bridge was retired from service when the new State Route 132 was built a little to the north in 1987. The Bridge was named after Angelo Basso (1846 to 1933) who operated a ferry across the Tuolumne River until the bridge was built at this site. Many bridges in the area were named after the previous ferry operator.

Stanislaus County, California Bridges: Old Basso Bridge across the Tuolumne River by Mark Yashinsky is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Sonoma County, California Bridges: Healdsburg Bridges across the Russian River (2)

September 2014 (38.60499 Degrees, -122.86044 Degrees) Healdsburg Avenue Bridge

Next to yesterday's NWPRR Bridge is a closed highway bridge over the Russian River. The Healdsburg Avenue Bridge (20C0065) is a two span Pennsylvania through truss that was built in 1921 by the American Bridge Company. The bridge is being rehabilitated to maintain its use as a two lane roadway bridge. Currently it's 438 ft long, 19.4 ft wide, and with only 14.9 ft of vertical clearance above the deck. This bridge was registered as a historic place in 2011 and there are many additional photos of it on the Bridgehunter Website.

Sonoma County, California Bridges: Healdsburg Bridges across the Russian River (2) by Mark Yashinsky is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.