The trestle carries two sets of railroad tracks on ballast.
Eleven days has to be a world's record for building a quarter-mile-long bridge. Union Pacific must have had all the material in a nearby yard. Even so, they must have had three or four pile driving units working at the same time to have driven 200 piles in a week. Then there was less than a week to install the bent caps, place the precast superstructure, put down the ballast, and lay down a quarter mile of track. There must have been so many workers, that its amazing they didn't get in each others' way!
American River Bridges: Union Pacific Bridge (3) by Mark Yashinsky is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.
Here are some photos:
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Also, here is a news item from the August 17, 2007 issue of RAILWAY TRACK AND STRUCTURES Magazine:
UP completes repairs to bike path, grounds under Sacramento bridge
The finishing touches recently were completed in the area where a March 15 fire destroyed the wooden trestle approach to Union Pacific’s bridge over the American River in Sacramento, Calif. The new steel-and-concrete 1,400-ft. approach was rebuilt within 15 days of the fire through the efforts of UP employees, private contractors and a variety of city, county and state agencies.
Since mid-April:
All fire debris was removed and the area graded under the bridge approach. The Regional Water Quality Control Board has approved the clean-up and grading.
Plans have been made to test ground water and sediment under the guidance and review of the Regional Water Quality Control Board.
The bike trail was repaired and reopened the first week of August; 2,600-feet of the bike path was repaved with asphalt.
In recognition of the firefighters’ efforts, Union Pacific has donated:
To the Sacramento Metropolitan Fire District - six safety packs, each of which includes: a 2007-compliant air pack, a 60-minute air bottle with regulator, a rescue sled, a search and rescue bag that contains 225 feet of rope and necessary hardware and a flat-head axe.
Ten dry suits for the fire/rescue boat crew members and two marine searchlights to assist with night operations to the Sacramento Fire Department. The dry suits have been special ordered and are expected to be delivered in the next several months.
Law enforcement officials continue to ask for any information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person(s) responsible in setting the March 15, 2007 fire.