Shasta County, California Bridges: Sundial Bridge across the Sacramento River (9)

October 2014 (40.5921 Degrees, -122.3775 Degrees) Sundial Bridge

Continuing along the Sacramento River Bike Trail we arrived at Calatrava's 'Sundial' Bridge, a structure we previously studied during its construction and after it was built. Because we are currently discussing bridges in Shasta County (and because it's such an interesting bridge) I though we could discuss it some more.

Despite all of the headaches during the construction of this project, the bridge has become very popular. People are interested in a bridge that is also a work of art.Whenever I visit the park, there are lots of families walking on the bridge. With the nearby Stress Ribbon Bridge, the new Antlers Bridge,  and the Sundial Bridge, Redding and Shasta County have become a destination to see interesting bridges.

As shown in the photo above, it's a very eccentrically loaded structure. All the cables supporting the superstructure are on one side of the single tower, resulting in a torsional force that is resisted by the weight of the 3-legged base (on bearings). I think the complicated way the bridge resists the weight of the superstructure is part of what makes it attractive (a symmetrical structure would be less interesting).

The bridge is called a sundial because the tower points to the time on the ground as can be seen in the photo. For instance, I took this picture at just past 12 noon. There are some very nice videos using drones on YouTube that also show the sundial in action.

Shasta County, California Bridges: Sundial Bridge across the Sacramento River (9) by Mark Yashinsky is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Shasta County, California Bridges: State Route 273 Bridge across the Sacramento River

October 2014 (40.59167 Degrees, -122.39167 Degrees) Sacramento River Bridge

Continuing to ride along the Sacramento River Bike Trail we passed the 'Fish Ladder' (a tall weir across the river) and arrived at the State Route 273 Sacramento River Bridge (06 0014). This is an eight span haunched steel girder bridge on concrete pier walls that was built in 1935. The split in the pier wall shows how the bridge was widened (in 1961).

The superstructure is the only part of the bridge that received a less than satisfactory rating during the last assessment. Probably the original girders are experiencing some fatigue cracks. Maybe they will replace the older structure with another widening?

Shasta County, California Bridges: State Route 273 Bridge across the Sacramento River by Mark Yashinsky is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Shasta County, California Bridges: Quartz Hill Road Underpass (2)

October 2014 (40.5930 Degrees, -122.3999 Degrees) Sacramento River Railroad Viaduct

A photo of the Quartz Hill Road Underpass from the north side of the Sacramento River looking north.  This bridge was built in 1939 by the Southern Pacific Railroad as part of a $15 million project to go around the lake that was about to be created by Shasta Dam. In 1996 the Union Pacific Railroad took over the Southern Pacific. The photo below shows the trestle from the north side of the river looking south in 1945 (photo courtesy of UC Davis).

Shasta County, California Bridges: Quartz Hill Road Underpass (2) by Mark Yashinsky is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.