Marin County, California Bridges: Cross Marin Trail Bridge

February 2016 (38.02893, -122.72427) Cross Marin Trail Bridge

Today's bridge (27P0011) is a long pedestrian crossing over Lagunitas Creek and Sir Francis Drake Blvd. This bridge was built in 1980. It's composed of timber pony truss members above the deck and precast prestressed concrete girders below the deck. The bridge is part of the Cross Marin Trail which was built on the abandoned right-of-way of the North Pacific Coast Railroad. The Irving Railroad Bridge (shown below) was originally built at this location at the junction of Lagunitas and Irving Creeks.

Marin County, California Bridges: Cross Marin Trail Bridge by Mark Yashinsky is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Marin County, California Bridges: Mill Crossing Bridge across Lagunitas Creek

February 2016 (38.02893, -122.74210) Mill Crossing Bridge

A bridge has been at this location (in Samuel P Taylor State Park) since the 1870s. Samuel Taylor had built a resort in the area and the narrow-gauge North Pacific Coast Railroad made the resort a popular destination for people wishing to enjoy nature (see photo below).

The bridge was originally a through truss but at some point it was rebuilt as a Bailey Bridge with a timber deck. It's still used for (authorized) vehicular traffic and connects Sir Francis Drake Blvd. across the creek with the Cross Marin Trail.

The west side of Marin County is state parks and national monuments full of weekend visitors and stop and go traffic. It's pretty, but maybe too crowded to be very enjoyable. A nice exception is Point Reyes National Seashore where no cars are allowed.

Marin County, California Bridges: Mill Crossing Bridge across Lagunitas Creek by Mark Yashinsky is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Marin County, California Bridges: State Route 1 (Green Bridge) across Lagunitas Creek

February 2016 (38.06471, -122.80513) Bridge over Lagunitas Creek

The next few blogs will be on the bridges over Lagunitas Creek.

At Point Reyes Station, Highway 1 crosses over Lagunitas Creek on an old pony truss bridge (27 0023). This has been a place to cross the creek since the Coast Miwoks lived in the area. The current bridge includes a 100 ft long steel truss span and two 25 ft long slab approach spans. The bridge was built in 1929, it's a few hundred yards from the San Andreas Fault, and Caltrans is planning to replace it with one of the bridges shown below.

The existing bridge is called the 'Green Bridge' and so the replacements all have green paint on them, at least for the railings. The third and forth alternative are the only ones that don't include piers in the creek, which may make one of them the winner with the various government agencies who will need to approve this project.

The residents of Point Reyes Station also have a say in the bridge replacement, which has evoked strong emotions. A series of meetings have been held so that everyone hcan express there opinion on the project. A temporary bridge will be used while the old bridge is being replaced.

Marin County, California Bridges: State Route 1 (Green Bridge) across Lagunitas Creek by Mark Yashinsky is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.