Friday, November 30, 2012

Placer County, California's Bridges: No Hands Bridge across the North Fork of the American River (4)

November 2012 (38.913 Degrees, -121.0416 Degrees) No Hands Bridge
The Mountain Quarries Bridge is over 100 years old. It was part of a seven mile long railway that carried blocks of limestone from the quarry near Cool across the North Fork of the American River to the Southern Pacific Railroad at the Auburn railway station. This enterprise ended in 1939 but the bridge still remains. More modern structures upstream were washed away by the floods, but this structure, with its arches high above the river, is still in pretty good shape. The bridge and much of the roadbed are now part of the Western States Trail.
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Placer County, California's Bridges: No Hands Bridge across the North Fork of the American River (4) by Mark Yashinsky is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 License.

Thursday, November 29, 2012

Placer County, California's Bridges: No Hands Bridge across the North Fork of the American River (3)

November 2012 (38.913 Degrees, -121.0416 Degrees) No Hands Bridge
State Route 49 is called the 'Golden Chain Highway' because it follows the path of the '49ers' who traveled this route looking for gold. A particularly beautiful part of the highway is east of Auburn (the capital of Placer County) along the North Fork of the American River. Whenever there is a break in the trees, you can see the Mountain Quarries RR Bridge, the State Route 49 Bridge, and the Foresthill Bridge lined up above each other.
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Placer County, California's Bridges: No Hands Bridge across the North Fork of the American River (3) by Mark Yashinsky is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 License.

Wednesday, November 28, 2012

Placer County, California's Bridges: No Hands Bridge across the North Fork of the American River (2)

November 2012 (38.913 Degrees, -121.0416 Degrees) No Hands Bridge
We visited the 'No Hands' bridge before in 2009. Its a closed spandrel concrete arch bridge just downstream from yesterday's State Route 49 Bridge. It was originally built (in 1912) as part of a railway to transport limestone from a quarry in El Dorado County seven miles into Auburn. Its a five span bridge with three arch spans over the river. It has a 140 ft center span and a total length of 582 ft (with a 15 ft width). It was originally called the Mountain Quarries Railroad Bridge but when it began to be used by hikers it was renamed the 'No Hands' Bridge because it was missing handrails. The bridge has been rehabilitated as an historic structure, it now has modern handrails, and new placards call it the Mountain Quarries Bridge.
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Placer County, California's Bridges: No Hands Bridge across the North Fork of the American River (2) by Mark Yashinsky is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 License.

Tuesday, November 27, 2012

Placer County, California's Bridges: State Route 49 Bridge across the North Fork of the American River

November 2012 (38.9155 Degrees, -121.0404 Degrees) State Route 49 Bridge
The next two bridges straddle the Placer/El Dorado County Line because the Middle Fork (the natural border between the counties) joins the North Fork just upstream of today's bridge.

The State Route 49 Bridge (19 0035) crosses what is still called the North Fork south of the confluence of the two rivers. It is a three span steel stringer bridge on concrete pier walls and seat-type abutments. It is 348.1 ft long with a 173.9 ft center span across the river.

We can see the remains of the previous bridge (from 1948) lying in the river beneath the current bridge (from 1965). I recall a big flood in 1964 that caused a lot of damage all along the west coast of the US.
In the photo above, we can see that the State Route 49 ends in a 'T at the end of the bridge. Travelers can make a left to continue on State Route 49 north into Nevada County or make a right onto old Foresthill Road that takes them east along the canyons of the North Fork of the American River to Soda Springs.
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Placer County, California's Bridges: State Route 49 Bridge across the North Fork of the American River by Mark Yashinsky is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 License.

Monday, November 26, 2012

Placer County, California's Bridges: Old Foresthill Road Bridge (2)

November 2012 (38.9166 Degrees, -121.0360 Degrees) Old Foresthill Road Bridge
The North Fork of the American River merges with the Middle Fork just downstream from today's bridge. This is a five span steel girder bridge on tall, hammerhead single column bents. The river must get very high to need such tall bents. Perhaps the last bridge at this site was washed away. 
On the Google earth photo below, we can see that the Old Foresthill Road makes an almost 180 degree turn as it crosses the North Fork of the American River. Thus, the Old Forest Hill Road Bridge is on a small radius horizontal curve. The Middle Fork of the American River flows just south of the bridge and it also marks the southern border for Placer County.
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Placer County, California's Bridges: Old Foresthill Road Bridge (2) by Mark Yashinsky is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 License.

Sunday, November 25, 2012

Placer County, California Bridges: Foresthill Bridge across the North Fork of the American River (8)

November 2012 (38.922 Degrees, -121.039 Degrees) Foresthill Bridge
Continuing down the North Fork of the American River and back to the Foresthill Bridge. We can see the river (considerably diminished from the Ponderosa Way Bridge) on the right side of the above photo. According to the excellent website provided by Placer County and Quincy Engineering, the seismic retrofit consists of strengthening or replacing the truss members and providing buckling restrained braces that act as dampers to absorb energy and reduce the superstructure movement during the Design Earthquake.
Other work includes improving access to the underside of the bridge, removing the lead-based paint and repainting the bridge, widening the deck, etc. All of the repairs and improvements should be completed by the end of the year.
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Placer County, California Bridges: Foresthill Bridge across the North Fork of the American River (8) by Mark Yashinsky is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 License.

Saturday, November 24, 2012

Placer County, California Bridges: Ponderosa Way Bridge across the North Fork of the American River (4)

November 2012 (39.0001 Degrees, -120.940 Degrees) Ponderosa Way Bridge
For some reason, the most rusted parts of this bridge are a few of the gusset plates. However, the plates appear to be bolted, which should make them easier to replace. Also, some of the truss members have been repainted while others have quite a bit of rust. Hopefully there isn't enough rust to reduce the truss member cross sections. A little bit of maintenance should return this bridge close to its original condition. Since it is eligible to be designated as a historic bridge, the US Forest Service should spend a little money to preserve this part of California's past. 
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Placer County, California Bridges: Ponderosa Way Bridge across the North Fork of the American River (4) by Mark Yashinsky is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 License.

Friday, November 23, 2012

Placer County, California Bridges: Ponderosa Way Bridge across the North Fork of the American River (3)

November 2012 (39.0001 Degrees, -120.940 Degrees) Ponderosa Way Bridge
Another view of the Ponderosa Way Bridge. The sharp horizontal curve may explain why the bridge got an unsatisfactory roadway alignment appraisal during its last inspection. However, the rest of the inspection was surprisingly favorable. The plans show the 12 ft wide bridge was designed by the U.S. Forest Service for an H-15 truck in 1935.   
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Placer County, California Bridges: Ponderosa Way Bridge across the North Fork of the American River (3) by Mark Yashinsky is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 License.

Thursday, November 22, 2012

Placer County, California Bridges: Ponderosa Way Bridge across the North Fork of the American River (2)

November 2012 (39.0001 Degrees, -120.940 Degrees) Ponderosa Way Bridge
A closer look at the Ponderosa Way Bridge. I was going to call it a Pratt Truss because the diagonal members slope downward toward the center of the bridge but the Bridgehunter called it a Parker pony truss, probably because of the slightly rounded top chord. It also includes lateral truss members that support the deck transversely.
This bridge was built in 1935 and includes three spans with the truss span in the middle for a total length of 222.1 ft and main span length of 129.9 ft. It has a timber deck, which is unusual for a road bridge, but it only gets 50 vehicles a day. It has two tall RC pier walls that are higher in the center to support the steel stringer spans and lower at the ends to support the truss span.
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Placer County, California Bridges: Ponderosa Way Bridge across the North Fork of the American River (2) by Mark Yashinsky is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 License.

Wednesday, November 21, 2012

Placer County, California Bridges: Ponderosa Way Bridge across the North Fork of the American River (1)

November 2012 (39.0001 Degrees, -120.940 Degrees) Ponderosa Way Bridge
The next river crossing as we continue downstream is the Ponderosa Way Bridge. It includes an interesting pony truss superstructure with the deck located a little bit above the bottom chord. We'll take a closer look at this bridge tomorrow.
In the Google earth photo above we can see the location of the Ponderosa Way Bridge along with all the other bridges upstream on the North Fork of the American River (including the Palisade Creek and Soda Spring Bridges that we haven't visited).
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Placer County, California Bridges: Ponderosa Way Bridge across the North Fork of the American River (1) by Mark Yashinsky is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 License.

Tuesday, November 20, 2012

Placer County, California Bridges: Yankee Jim's Bridge across the North Fork of the American River (5)

August 2012 (39.04000 Degrees-120.90278 Degrees) Yankee Jim's Bridge
The next downstream crossing is Yankee Jim's Bridge. All of these suspension bridges have extra long floor beams so diagonal braces can provide lateral support for the bridge railing. I wonder why Placer County allows these river crossings to deteriorate while they spend $60 million to upgrade the Foresthill Bridge?
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Placer County, California Bridges: Yankee Jim's Bridge across the North Fork of the American River (5) by Mark Yashinsky is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 License.

Monday, November 19, 2012

Placer County, California Bridges: Iowa Hill Bridges across the North Fork of the American River (6)

August 2012 (39.0999 Degrees, -120.9247 Degrees) Iowa Hill Bridges
Downstream from the Euchre Bar Bridge are the two Iowa Hill Bridges. The suspension bridge has been relegated to foot traffic while the newer reinforced concrete box girder bridge provides vehicular access to the few roads on the southeast side of the river.
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Placer County, California Bridges: Iowa Hill Bridges across the North Fork of the American River (6) by Mark Yashinsky is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 License.

Sunday, November 18, 2012

Placer County, California Bridges: Euchre Bar Bridge across the North Fork of the American River

November 2012 (39.1856 Degrees, -120.7613 Degrees) Euchre Bar Bridge
I spent yesterday traveling through heavy rain to photograph some bridges that I had previously missed across the North Fork of the American River. I was hoping that I now had the complete set of North Fork Bridges, until I stumbled upon Russell Towle's beautiful blogs about the river.

Russell pointed out several bridges that I still haven't photographed. Way upstream are the Palisade Creek and the Soda Spring Road Bridges. Just a couple miles upstream from today's bridge are the remains of the Humbug Bar Bridge (see below). This whole area was heavily mined and many of the bridges used during the nineteenth century have been rebuilt (like the Euchre Bar Bridge) or lie in ruins (like the Humbug Bar Bridge). Apparently, I still have a lot of work to do if I want a complete set of photos of the North Fork Bridges.
The Euchre Bar Bridge is another suspension bridge with short, latticed towers similar to the Iowa Hill and Yankee Jim Bridges. However, it has a narrow deck that was expressly built for hikers. In fact, I had a strenuous hike down the well-maintained switchback trail from Iron Point to reach the bridge. Russell pointed out in his blogs that the current Euchre Bar Bridge is only the latest (built in 1965) of the many bridges built at this site. There are abutments and anchorages from several previously-built bridges nearby.
The names of the geography and structures along this river are strongly suggestive of the pursuits of the gold miners who once lived here. Euchre is a card game that was popular with the prospectors. A 'humbug' is an antiquated term for a deceitful person. Yankee Jim was a prospector (and horse thief). Shirttail Creek was where a prospector was found panning for gold just wearing a shirt.

Since, we are now at the farthest point that I've traveled upstream, over the next several days we'll go back downstream (from bridge to bridge) until we reach the confluence of the North Fork and the Middle Fork of the American River.
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Placer County, California Bridges: Euchre Bar Bridge across the North Fork of the American River by Mark Yashinsky is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 License.

Saturday, November 17, 2012

Placer County, California Bridges: Foresthill Bridge across the North Fork of the American River (7)

November 2012 (38.922 Degrees, -121.039 Degrees) Foresthill Bridge

In the photo above, I walked towards the bridge (on a hiking trail) until few trees blocked my path only to discover that I was now too close to fit the bridge into one photo. I tried taking a photo, moving the camera to the right, and taking another photo so I could stitch the photos together when I got home.
I used Adobe Photoshop to stitch four photographs together into a single panoramic view of the bridge (above). However, I'm not sure if this provides more information than a photo taken farther away from the bridge.
The American River has a North, Middle, and South Fork. In the Wikepedia Map below, we can see the North and Middle Forks come together (in Auburn) and then meets the South Fork at Folsom Lake. The Foresthill Bridge crosses over the North Fork just before it reaches the Middle Fork.

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Placer County, California Bridges: Foresthill Bridge across the North Fork of the American River (7) by Mark Yashinsky is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 License.

Friday, November 16, 2012

Placer County, California Bridges: Foresthill Bridge across the North Fork of the American River (6)

November 2012 (38.922 Degrees, -121.039 Degrees) Foresthill Bridge
Here's the view of the deck of the Foresthill Bridge. The contractor (Golden State Bridge) is using the eastbound lanes for their equipment and allowing two way traffic on the westbound lanes (at a reduced speed). I believe the bridge has a new, wider deck. In the Google earth photo taken in June (shown below) there is a big gap between the two decks.
In the Google earth photo taken a couple of weeks ago, the gap is filled in on the north side while it's still being used to allow workers and equipment under the deck on the south side. Also, in these two photos we can see that the bridge actually crosses the North Fork of the American River, which is running much higher in June than in the end of October.
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Placer County, California Bridges: Foresthill Bridge across the North Fork of the American River (6) by Mark Yashinsky is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 License.

Thursday, November 15, 2012

Placer County, California Bridges: Foresthill Bridge across the North Fork of the American River (5)

November 2012 (38.922 Degrees, -121.039 Degrees) Foresthill Bridge
After Yankee Jim's Bridge, the North Fork of the American River continues downstream for about five miles before reaching the Ponderosa Way Bridge, a pony truss structure that I still need to photograph (I also missed the Eucre Bar Bridge north of the Iowa Hill Bridges). Then the river continues for a couple of miles before it is contained behind Clementine Dam. The diminished river continues past the dam until it flows under the very tall Foresthill Bridge and joins the Middle Fork of the American River.

We haven't visited the Foresthill Bridge in a few years (since my blog of October 2009) so I drove up today to take some new pictures. As you can see, parts of the bridge are now covered in a tarp as they remove the lead-based paint and do other work to the bridge including a seismic retrofit. The estimate on all this work was $70 million and the winning bid came in at about $55 million. We'll take a closer look at the bridge and the repairs during the next few days.
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Placer County, California Bridges: Foresthill Bridge across the North Fork of the American River (5) by Mark Yashinsky is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 License.

Wednesday, November 14, 2012

Placer County, California Bridges: Yankee Jim's Bridge across the North Fork of the American River (4)

August 2012 (39.04000 Degrees-120.90278 Degrees) Yankee Jim's Bridge
A last few photos of Yankee Jim's Bridge. These four-legged, lattice tower suspension bridges are simple but effective for spans under a couple hundred feet. Note the hardware used to anchor the cables into the ground. I wonder what the criteria was to limit the maximum load to 3 tons?
The bridge was built in 1930 and put together with cables, rods, rivets, and angle iron. I read that a work crew of immigrant Chinese laborers came through with hand tools and dynamite to build the road. They still report a few deaths every year from people driving too fast around its turns.
The bridge is 82 years old, its covered in rust, and it has a sufficiency rating of 2.1. I wonder if Placer County has plans to replace it, what kind of bridge it would be, and how much it would cost?
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Placer County, California Bridges: Yankee Jim's Bridge across the North Fork of the American River (4) by Mark Yashinsky is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 License.