Contra Costa County, California Bridges: Pacheco Slough Bridges in Martinez

February 2014 (38.03142 Degrees, -122.08008 Degrees) Pacheco Slough Bridges

Another movable railroad bridge in Contra Costa County carries trains across Pacheco Slough in Martinez. It's a long timber trestle bridge with pony truss swing spans at the east end. This bridge was built in 1901 by the Southern Pacific Railroad.

On the north side of the railroad bridge is another swing bridge built in 1946 to carry Waterfront Road. This Pacheco Slough Bridge (28C0006) was improved in 1965 with precast girder approach spans and steel girder swing spans. There is also a utility truss bridge just north of the roadway bridge that carries pipelines to a nearby refinery (see photo below).

Contra Costa County, California Bridges: Pacheco Slough Bridges in Martinez by Mark Yashinsky is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Solano County, California Bridges: Andrews Park Bridges across Ulatis Creek

January 2014 (38.3578 Degrees, -121.9871 Degrees) Andrews Park Bridges

Andrews Park has a number of other interesting bridges. A utility bridge crosses over the river and the walkway that winds through the park. The longer spans of the utility bridge are trusses supported by reinforced concrete columns (and a cable-stay).

Continuing on the footpath we came upon a pair of pedestrian bridges that cross each other at Ulatis Creek. The lower structure is a concrete slab supported on two column bents. The higher structure is through truss with the deck above the bottom chord. There's a name for this kind of truss, which escapes me.

Continuing along the footpath that follows Ulatis Creek we came upon an arch bridge (23C0018) that was part of the original Lincoln Highway, the first road that traversed the United States. We'll take a closer look at this interesting bridge tomorrow.

Solano County, California Bridges: Andrews Park Bridges across Ulatis Creek by Mark Yashinsky is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Amador County, California Bridges: Utility Bridge across Sutter Creek in Ione

March 2013 (38.35037 Degrees, -120.94790 Degrees) Sutter Creek Utility Bridge

Jackson Creek runs south of Ione while Sutter Creek runs through the middle of town, and Mule Creek and Dry Creek run north of town.

Not only are there a lot of road and foot bridges in Ione, but there are also a couple of utility bridges. However, instead of the nice truss utility bridges we saw in Japan, these are through girder bridges and the girders looked older than the utility pipes. I wonder if these low bridges get topped during the spring floods? They must be well anchored by the abutments and by the pipe in the ground at each end of the bridge.

Amador County, California Bridges: Utility Bridge across Sutter Creek in Ione by Mark Yashinsky is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.

Niigata, Japan's Bridges: Utility Bridge across the U River

August 2007 (37.348 Degrees, 138.552 Degrees) Utility Bridge

The next bridge upstream is another utility bridge. If you look at Google Earth today you can see a bridge across the river (an extension to Highway 8) that wasn't there when I took this photo in 2007.

Note how the water line (in the photo below) is made up of segments connected with flanges that are bolted together. I'm surprised these elements didn't leak due to shaking during the Kashiwazaki earthquake. I remember going to Chiba Prefecture Department of Water after the Tohoku earthquake. We told them if they switched to HDPE pipe they would have less work and less pipe breaks after earthquakes, but they weren't interested. Maybe they didn't like the taste of water in a plastic pipe?

Niigata, Japan's Bridges: Utility Bridge across the U River by Mark Yashinsky is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.

Niigata Japan's Bridges: Utility Bridges across the U River (3)

August 2007 (37.360 Degrees, 138.550 Degrees) Utility Bridges

Some photos of the second utility bridge further upstream on the U River. This bridge has a triangular cross section with a single lower chord which does double-duty as a waterline. It's at the corner of a water (wastewater?) treatment plant which includes a sluice gate and four water pumps.

In these photos we can see how the big waterline goes vertically up the abutment and then turns horizontally to carry water over the river. A big corbel supports the end of the truss. A stairway carries workers onto the top chord which is provided with a walkway and hand rails.

Niigata Japan's Bridges: Utility Bridges across the U River (3) by Mark Yashinsky is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.

Ibaraki, Japan's Bridges: Utility Bridge across the Satogawa

June 2011 (36.575 Degrees, 140.539 Degrees) Utility Bridge across the Satogawa

It's kind of appropriate to end our visit to Ibaraki Prefecture with this little utility bridge since I like utility bridges and there are a lot of them here.  This one is next to the Shin-Chinone Bridge across the narrow Satogawa.

Tomorrow we will go from Ibaraki Prefecture in Kanto Region (on the east side of Honshu) to Niigata Prefecture in Chubu Region (on the west side of Honshu).

Ibaraki, Japan's Bridges: Utility Bridge across the Satogawa by Mark Yashinsky is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.

Ibaraki, Japan's Bridges: Utility Bridge across the Nakagawa

June 2011 (36.416 Degrees, 140.434 Degrees) Nakagawa Utility Bridge

Continuing northeast we arrived at the Naga River and a pretty utility bridge. I like the tower legs that seem ideally suited to carry the triangular cross-section of the superstructure. Imagine building a separate cable-stayed bridge to carry a waterline when there are two nearby highway bridges that could carry it for free. 


I'm fond of playing SimCity on my computer where I always have to be careful not to spend all my money on infrastructure. My impression is that Japan is willing to spend a lot more money on infrastructure than we do in the United States. 

Ibaraki, Japan's Bridges: Utility Bridge across the Nakagawa by Mark Yashinsky is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.

Tokyo, Japan's Bridges: Water Line Bridge across the Sumida River

June 2011 (35.700 Degrees, 139.793 Degrees) Water Line Bridge

The next bridge upstream across the Sumida River is a continuous three span, steel through girder bridge carrying a big water pipe. It is supported on concrete pier walls and is purely utilitarian in appearance. Apparently this bridge is so unimportant that it doesn't even have a name. It's main attribute is that it partially obstructs the view of the Kuramae Bridge that we will visit tomorrow.

Tokyo, Japan's Bridges: Water Line Bridge across the Sumida River by Mark Yashinsky is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.

Japan's Bridges: Utility Bridge across a Branch of the Kitakami, Miyaki Prefecture

June 2011 (38.556 Degrees, 141.415 Degrees) Kitakami Utility Bridge

A utility bridge across a branch of the Kitakami River. Most of these utility bridges are identical, a three chord truss with the utility as the bottom chord supported on single column/pile extension bents. I just like the bright green color of these bridges.

Japan must have different relationships between public and private utility companies. In California we put utility openings in our bridges and they get filled with other people's pipes and cables. I guess in Japan they prefer to maintain their own lifelines without having to ask someone for access.

Japan's Bridges: Utility Bridge across a Branch of the Kitakami, Miyaki Prefecture by Mark Yashinsky is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

Japan's Bridges: Tagohashi Bridges in Miyagi Prefecture (3)

June 2011 (38.287 Degrees, 140.963 Degrees) Tagohashi Bridges

A view from under the Tagohashi Bridges. We can see the two piers connected with a small closure wall. The piers must have been connected to improve streamflow during flooding. It also looks like the girders have moved to the left (and off their bearings) during the earthquake. There are stains at the top of the piers and at mid-height on the pipe piles. I wonder if the tsunami or flooding has overtopped the bridge?

Japan's Bridges: Tagohashi Bridges in Miyagi Prefecture (3) by Mark Yashinsky is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

Japan's Bridges: Tagohashi Bridges in Miyagi Prefecture (2)

June 2011 (38.2867 Degrees, 140.9627 Degrees) Tagohashi Bridges

Another view of the Tagohashi Bridges (while standing at the end of the utility bridge). The bents for the utility bridge are single pipe pile extensions with a concrete cap. The bents on the road/foot bridge are concrete pier walls, except the closer bridge has a pipe pile bent at one location! I wonder when the bent was replaced and why?

They really made the gate on the utility bridge lethal to climb over. However, it looks pretty easy to just swing yourself around the gate and onto the deck. I wonder why the utility bridge is freshly painted while the road/foot bridges are rusty? 

Japan's Bridges: Tagohashi Bridges in Miyagi Prefecture (2) by Mark Yashinsky is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

Japan's Bridges: Tagohashi Bridges in Miyagi Prefecture (1)

June 2011 (38.2867 Degrees, 140.9627 Degrees) Tagohashi Bridges

We returned to the Nanakitagawa and came upon three bridges in a quiet neighborhood, unrelated to any major highway. Perhaps that's why the roadway bridge remains closed three months after the earthquake. Actually the two bridges on the right share the same pier (or pier widening). Perhaps both decks were originally roadway bridges, but the one on the far right now is used only to carry pedestrians.

They are four span steel girder bridges that slammed into the abutments (or maybe the abutments slammed into the girders) during the March earthquake. The utility bridge remains undamaged. A sign on the pedestrian bridge said it was built in 1967 but they look older and are in poor shape. Maybe they aren't being repaired because they are in poor condition? We'll take another look at them tomorrow.

Japan's Bridges: Tagohashi Bridges in Miyagi Prefecture (1) by Mark Yashinsky is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

Japan's Bridges: Wastewater Treatment Bridge in Miyagi Prefecture

June 2011 (38.250 Degrees, 141.004 Degrees) Wastewater Treatment Plant Bridge

Continuing east, we visited a wastewater treatment plant (just south of the Nanakitagawa) that was damaged by the tsunami. Their facilities include an interesting tied arch bridge that crosses the inland waterway near the coast. The bridge was undamaged by the tsunami but some concrete buildings facing the ocean had spectacular damage.

After the earthquake all the workers climbed onto the roof of the building (behind the bridge) and filmed the tsunami. There were many oohs and aahs as the huge waves crashed over the top of the facilities. If it wasn't so awful, it would have been like watching a fireworks display.

Japan's Bridges: Wastewater Treatment Bridge in Miyagi Prefecture by Mark Yashinsky is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

Japan's Bridges: Utility Bridge in Natori, Miyagi Prefecture

June 2011 (38.163 Degrees, 140.889 Degrees) Utility Bridge in Natori

A utility bridge crossing the same small river as yesterday's viaduct. I would call this structure a variation of the Warren truss, but with a single bottom chord element. In fact, the bottom chord is doing double duty as a pipeline and as the tension member for the truss.

Japan's Bridges: Utility Bridge in Natori, Miyagi Prefecture by Mark Yashinsky is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

Japan's Bridges: Natori River Utility Bridge in Miyagi Prefecture

June 2011 (38.2049 Degrees, 140.8921 Degrees) Natori River Utility Bridge

A separate bridge will often be built to carry a utility in Japan. We saw today's bridge in the distance in Saturday's photo of the JR Natori River Bridge. In today's photo we are traveling north on the Tobu Toll Road and the utility bridge is on our right. It is a 540 m long, six span steel through arch carrying what looks like a 24 inch waterline. At each end of the bridge the utility line goes up (to allow traffic to travel under it) and then descends underground.

Japan's Bridges: Natori River Utility Bridge in Miyagi Prefecture by Mark Yashinsky is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

New Zealand's Bridges: Dallington Bridge across the Avon River in Christchurch

March 2011 (-43.518 Degrees, 172.677 Degrees) Dallington Bridge

This is a combined utility and pedestrian bridge. It's composed of two reinforced concrete arch ribs supporting a concrete deck. During the September 2010 earthquake the two banks moved a little closer together and during the February 2011 earthquake the banks moved much closer together. This raised the bridge and caused flexural damage at the top.

New Zealand's Bridges: Dallington Bridge across the Avon River in Christchurch by Mark Yashinsky is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

Australia's Bridges: Camellia Bridges across the Parramatta River in NSW

March 2011 (-33.815 deg., 151.026 deg.) Camellia Bridges

Alan commented in yesterday's blog that the superstructure of the Camellia Utility Bridge may originally have been on the Camellia Railway Bridge. The evidence suggests that he's right. We can see in the photo above that the piers of the two bridges are equally spaced, making the placement of the three spans onto the steel column caps of the utility bridge fairly straightforward.

I mentioned in a previous blog several reasons why we often see new and old bridges side by side. Alan brought up the additional point that a parallel bridge can be used as a detour during construction and that moving the superstructure onto an adjacent structure allows trains to cross the river while the new bridge is being built. 

It is likely that the three trusses on the utility bridge were originally on the railway bridge. We can see how the railway bridge is narrow at the two ends. This matches the width of the trusses. The Heritage Council article mentioned that the original railway bridge had a wrought iron latticed truss. However, I think that may have been from an even earlier era (when the masonry abutments were first built). The laced and riveted Warren trusses must have replaced the wrought iron trusses when a stronger bridge was required. It's a little odd that there is no deck on the utility bridge, but perhaps it was removed as needless weight when they moved the trusses to their new location.


The new railway bridge is also an interesting structure. For one thing it is very wide for a single set of tracks. Perhaps they planned to widen the ends and add another track in the future? More likely the old abutments are considered of historic value and so they may not be allowed to widen the ends of the bridge. Also, it is a little unusual to build a truss bridge when box girders can provide longer spans at less cost. It's even more unusual to build a pony truss without any lateral support from cross-braces. It's also unusual to build a continuous three span truss that is over three hundred feet long. Was it shipped on a barge or somehow fabricated on the site? The steel pier legs that descend from the truss make it a much stiffer, almost rigid structure. Also, it looks like a very lightweight walkway is attached to the west side of the railway bridge.

Australia's Bridges: Camellia Bridges across the Parramatta River in NSW by Mark Yashinsky is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

Australia's Bridges: Rydalmere Pedestrian Bridge across the Parramatta River in NSW

March 2011 (-33.818 deg., 151.041 deg.) Rosehill/Rydalmere Footbridge

A kilometer upstream from the Silverwater Bridge is the Rydalmere Pedestrian Bridge.  It's a nice looking two span, through truss bridge on two column bents with a pedestrian walkway between two waterlines. There is also a steep ramp on each side of the bridge to carry water and pedestrians up onto the middle two spans.


The bridge has a rather flimsy looking fender system around the bent in the river. I guess it's a good thing that big vessels don't travel on the Parramatta River anymore.  I have a special fondness for utility bridges and this is a well designed and well constructed structure. I think I'd like to write a book on utility bridges one day.

Australia's Bridges: Rydalmere Pedestrian Bridge across the Parramatta River in NSW by Mark Yashinsky is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

Alaska's Bridges: Big Delta Bridges

December 2002  Big Delta Bridges (lat. 64.159· long. -145.852·) Richardson Highway and Alyeska Pipeline 

Alaska's Bridges: Big Delta Bridges by Mark Yashinsky is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.

Alaska's Bridges: Alyeska Pipeline Bridge (3)

December 2002 Alyeska Pipeline Bridge (lat. 63.397·, long. -145.738·)

Alaska's Bridges: Alyeska Pipeline Bridge (3) by Mark Yashinsky is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.