Stanislaus County, California Bridges: Grand Street Bridge across Dry Creek (1)

September 2014 (37.63722 Degrees, -120.98375 Degrees) Grand Street Bridge

A little upstream from the Mokolumne River in Modesto is Dry Creek and the Grand Street Bridge (38C0323). This is another bridge designed by the prolific John B. Leonard. It's a 103 ft long concrete filled arch that was built in 1906. When I visited, the bridge was closed to traffic. Vehicles were carried on the nearby Yosemite Blvd (SR 192). After over a hundred years the bridge can hopefully be returned to service for pedestrian use.

Stanislaus County, California Bridges: Grand Street Bridge across Dry Creek (1) by Mark Yashinsky is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Stanislaus County, California Bridges: Seventh Street Bridge across the Tuolumne River (2)

September 2014 (37.62694 Degrees, -120.99389 Degrees) Seventh Street Bridge

The Seventh Street Bridge (38C0023) is a 14 span, 1170 ft long closed spandrel arch that was built in 1916. It's the design of John B. Leonard who specialized in innovative concrete bridges. This structure is composed of steel truss elements encased in wet concrete. Leonard built several of them in California but this was the most impressive. The steel truss was supposed to take the place of reinforcement, but it's missing the perimeter shear and confinement steel. Anyway, the bridge appears to be having some structural problems where the truss elements meet at midspan. 

Stanislaus County, California Bridges: Seventh Street Bridge across the Tuolumne River (2) by Mark Yashinsky is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Stanislaus County, California Bridges: Seventh Street Bridge across the Tuolumne River (1)

September 2014 (37.62609, -120.99367) Seventh Street Bridge

We're going to spend the next few weeks following the Tuolumne River into the Sierra Mountains. We start our journey in the City of Modesto, which  appeared surprisingly depressed as I began photographing the bridges that crossed the Tuolumne in Modesto. I had parked my big Ford pickup on the shoulder of 7th Street, but so many homeless people were walking along the shoulder that I felt bad that my parked truck was pushing them into the road.

The 'Lion Bridge' is a long arch bridge that carries Seventh Street across the Tuolumne River in downtown Modesto. It is another of the odd, original bridges that were designed by John B. Leonard at the beginning of the 20th century. This is one of four 'canticrete' bridges he designed that are steel trusses encased in concrete.

We are currently screening bridges for a new retrofit program in California. One of the screeners said that concrete encased in steel performs well while steel encased in concrete performs poorly. We'll take a closer look at this bridge as we ponder his words tomorrow.

Stanislaus County, California Bridges: Seventh Street Bridge across the Tuolumne River (1) by Mark Yashinsky is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Sacramento County, California Bridges: Guy West Bridge across the American River (2)

September 2014 (38.5622 Degrees, -121.4204 Degrees) Guy West Bridge

Some more photos of the Guy West Suspension Bridge. They have a sign telling you to walk your bike across the bridge, but I can't bring myself to do it. I'm always late for work or home and so I just zigzag around the pedestrians and bridge workers. They're removing lead paint and so they have a noisy ventilation system inside the white plastic to suck up the lead rather than dropping it into the river. It looks like the towers have been repainted a pretty red, which is an improvement over the previous orange, unless it has just faded from red over time.

Sacramento County, California Bridges: Guy West Bridge across the American River (2) by Mark Yashinsky is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Sacramento County, California Bridges: Guy West Bridge across the American River

September 2014 (38.5622 Degrees, -121.4204 Degrees) Guy West Bridge

I cross the Guy West Suspension Bridge across the American River on my ride to and from work. Therefore I became irritated when signs suddenly appeared that said the bridge was going to be closed for a month for repainting.

The bridge was never closed, they just kept making it harder and harder to ride across it. They put fences along the barrier rails in May. Then they blocked the eastern approach to the bridge. Then they didn't do anything for several months. Finally they began assembling the scaffolding. There was never any sign holders or traffic people because we were just bicyclists.

Sacramento County, California Bridges: Guy West Bridge across the American River by Mark Yashinsky is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Sonoma County, California Bridges; Lambert Road Bridge across Dry Creek

September 2014 (38.65389 Degrees, -122.92778 Degrees) Dry Creek Bridge

Crossing over Dry Creek, The Lambert Road Bridge (20C0248) is a 190 ft long Parker truss. It was built in 1915 and is apparently going to be replaced as soon as funds become available. The bridge carries one of the few east-west roads through the Alexander Valley, it's rated as structurally deficient, and 1400 vehicles cross the bridge every day. There are many more photos of the bridge on the Bridgehunter Website.

Sonoma County, California Bridges; Lambert Road Bridge across Dry Creek by Mark Yashinsky is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Sonoma County, California Bridges: Skagg Springs Road Bridge across Haupt Creek

September 2014 (38.66083 Degrees, -123.32194 Degrees) Haupt Creek Bridge

Just west of the Annapolis Bridge is today's bridge over Haupt Creek. Like the previously studied Geysers Road Bridge, the Skagg Springs Road Bridge (20C0224) over Haupt Creek was originally built somewhere else and later moved to this spot. Its a 134 ft long pinned Pratt through truss with a 13 ft wide deck. The bridge has over 20 ft of vertical clearance and it was built in 1909. Like several other trusses we've recently studied, this bridge has Phoenix columns as compression members. They are composed of four, six, or eight elements that are riveted together. It was patented by Samuel Reeves in 1862 and became a standard element constructed by the Phoenix Bridge Company. Because they are hollow, they allowed the construction of light-weight members and taller structures.

Sonoma County, California Bridges: Skagg Springs Road Bridge across Haupt Creek by Mark Yashinsky is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Sonoma County, California Bridges: Annapolis Road Bridge across the Gualala River

September 2014 (38.66583 Degrees, -123.31278 Degrees) Gualala River Bridge

Continuing west on Skagg Springs Road we arrived at a location with several older truss bridges. The Annapolis Road (Clark Crossing) Bridge (20C0141) over the Gualala River is a 181 ft long Parker through truss that was built in 1920 and rehabilitated in 1971. Despite the renovation it has a sufficiency rating of only 27.6 and carries over 800 vehicles a day. 

Sonoma County, California Bridges: Annapolis Road Bridge across the Gualala River by Mark Yashinsky is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Sonoma County, California Bridges: Skagg Springs Road Bridge across Warm Springs Creek

September (38.67778 Degrees, -123.10000 Degrees) Skagg Springs Road Bridge

Sonoma County becomes remote and mountainous west of the Rockpile Bridge with just a few extremely winding roads. Driving west we arrived at the Skagg Springs Road Bridge (20C0439) across Warm Springs Creek. It is a tall continuous 3-span prestressed concrete box girder bridge on single column bents that was built in 1978. The bridge is 604 ft long with a 234 ft long span over the creek. It's in good condition and carries about 400 vehicles a day.

Sonoma County, California Bridges: Skagg Springs Road Bridge across Warm Springs Creek by Mark Yashinsky is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Sonoma County, California Bridges: Healdsburg Bridges across the Russian River (3)

September 2014 (38.60499 Degrees, -122.86044 Degrees) Healdsburg Bridges

This photo shows the Healdsburg Railway and Highway Bridges from the shoulder of US-101. The photo also shows how California's drought has affected the Russian River. Both bridges are currently closed but hopefully they can be returned to service soon.

Sonoma County, California Bridges: Healdsburg Bridges across the Russian River (3) by Mark Yashinsky is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Sonoma County, California Bridges: Healdsburg Bridges across the Russian River (2)

September 2014 (38.60499 Degrees, -122.86044 Degrees) Healdsburg Avenue Bridge

Next to yesterday's NWPRR Bridge is a closed highway bridge over the Russian River. The Healdsburg Avenue Bridge (20C0065) is a two span Pennsylvania through truss that was built in 1921 by the American Bridge Company. The bridge is being rehabilitated to maintain its use as a two lane roadway bridge. Currently it's 438 ft long, 19.4 ft wide, and with only 14.9 ft of vertical clearance above the deck. This bridge was registered as a historic place in 2011 and there are many additional photos of it on the Bridgehunter Website.

Sonoma County, California Bridges: Healdsburg Bridges across the Russian River (2) by Mark Yashinsky is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Sonoma County, California Bridges: NWPRR Bridge across the Russian River (1)

September 2014 (38.60499 Degrees, -122.86044 Degrees) NWPRR Bridge

Continuing north on the Old Redwood Highway we arrived at the Russian River and another Northwest Pacific Railroad Bridge. This structure is composed of three different truss spans including a 181 ft long Parker truss span across the river. It was built in 1921, it's eligible for registration as a historic place, and the Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit (SMART) Line is hoping to make it part of their new commuter service. Many more interesting photos of this bridge can be found at the Bridgehunter Website.

Sonoma County, California Bridges: Healdsburg Bridges across the Russian River (1) by Mark Yashinsky is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Sonoma County, California County: Northwest Pacific Railroad Bridge across the Old Pacific Highway

September 2014 (38.57314 Degrees, -122.84012 Degrees) NWPRR Bridge

Driving north on the Old Redwood Highway we crossed under an old railroad bridge. The highly skewed Old Redwood Highway Underpass (20C0090) is a 48 ft long 15 ft wide plate girder and floor-beam bridge that was built in 1915. It carries one set of Northwest Pacific Railroad tracks, which we previously passed 40 miles to the southeast by Sonoma Creek.

Sonoma County, California County: Northwest Pacific Railroad Bridge across the Old Pacific Highway by Mark Yashinsky is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Sonoma County, California Bridges: Chalk Hill Road Bridge across Maacama Creek

September 2014 (38.62194 Degrees, -122.77389 Degrees) Maacama Creek Bridge

The Chalk Hill Road Bridge (22C0242) across Maacama Creek is an open spandrel arch with a 110 ft long main span. It's a historic bridge, built in 1915, and eligible for registration as a historic place. Unfortunately, it has suffered significant damage at the southern pier and it's scheduled for replacement (perhaps while leaving the existing bridge standing). The bridge was designed by Commonwealth Engineering and built by Gildersleeve Construction. We've seen the builder's name on several other bridges in California. 

I think the open spandrel arch is a much nicer structure than the closed spandrel arch, more like a bridge and less like a culvert. The problem with these deck arches is that the substructure is often in the way of the river's flow.

Sonoma County, California Bridges: Chalk Hill Road Bridge across Maacama Creek by Mark Yashinsky is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Sonoma County, California Bridges: Alexander Valley Road Bridge across the Russian River (2)

September 2014 (38.65889 Degrees, -122.82889 Degrees) Jimtown Bridge

The Alexander Valley Road Bridge was built in 1949 by the Judson Pacific Murphy Company, who built many other big bridges in Clifornia. A through truss bridge was originally at this location (see photo below). Several spans collapsed during the 1906 San Francisco earthquake (see photo below) but new spans were put on the piers and they continued to use the bridge until the current bridge was built according the Historic Bridges Website.

The current bridge is 1384 ft long and includes five truss main spans as well as thirty approach spans that include haunched T girder spans and slab bridge spans on the east side of the Russian River. This makes it the second longest bridge in Sonoma County.

Sonoma County, California Bridges: Alexander Valley Road Bridge across the Russian River (2) by Mark Yashinsky is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. 

Sonoma County, California Bridges: Alexander Valley Road Bridge across the Russian River (1)

September 2014 (38.65889 Degrees, -122.82889 Degrees) Jimtown Bridge

Northwest to southeast faulting created the northwest to southeast mountains in Sonoma County, which resulted in northwest to southeast rivers and northwest to southeast highways (see photo below). Alexander Valley Road crosses the Russian River on a very unusual bridge (see photo above). Most truss bridges have horizontal or convex top chords but the Alexander Valley Road (or Jimtown) Bridge (20C0006) has concave top chords with tower-like elements over the piers. This suggests that the trusses act like suspension bridges with the top chord carrying the spans in tension. We'll take a closer look at this interesting bridge tomorrow.

Sonoma County, California Bridges: Alexander Valley Road Bridge across the Russian River (1) by Mark Yashinsky is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Sonoma County, California Bridges: Rockpile Road Bridge across Warm Springs Creek (2)

September 2014 (38.71500 Degrees, -123.01583 Degrees) Rockpile Road Bridge

The photo above shows the view from the west abutment of the Rockpile Road Bridge. Warm Springs Dam can barely be seen through the truss in the photo. The view from the east abutment can be seen in the photo below. Not only is this a long bridge but as Eric Sakowski mentions on his website it is also a very tall bridge. The bridge deck is 355 ft above the creek bottom. The bridge was built before the dam raised the water level in Warm Springs Creek.

It looks like the superstructure is attached to the piers with two bearings and a damper in the center to absorb energy for wind and earthquake loads. Hopefully the county has performed an analysis for this bridge to ensure it can resist a large earthquake on the San Andreas Fault (20 miles away) and the Healdsburg fault (2 miles away). Sonoma County performed a strategic planning assessment of its bridges following the I-35 bridge collapse. Their report can be found on this website.

Sonoma County, California Bridges: Rockpile Road Bridge across Warm Springs Creek (2) by MarkYashinsky is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Sonoma County, California Bridges: Rockpile Road Bridge across Warm Springs Creek (1)

September 2014 (38.71500 Degrees, -123.01583 Degrees) Rockpile Road Bridge

Sonoma is a big county that extends from San Pablo Bay in the east to Bodega Bay in the west. We've spent the last 30 days looking at different types of bridges in Sonoma County. Today's bridge, the Rockpile Road Bridge (20C0438) has the longest span (753 ft) and the longest length (1780 ft) of any bridge in Sonoma County. In fact, it has the 21st longest main span of any continuous truss bridge in the world (according to the Wikipedia Website). A continuous truss has no locations along its length of zero moment. Still, I would imagine that the bridge was built as two cantilevers and made continuous in the middle.

In the photo above the Warm Springs Dam is to our left and we can see the bridge spanning an arm of the reservoir called Warm Springs Creek. The dam was constructed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and completed in 1983. The bridge was completed in 1978. We'll take a closer look at this interesting structure tomorrow.

Sonoma County, California Bridges: Rockpile Road Bridge across Warm Springs Creek (1) by MarkYashinsky is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Sonoma County, California Bridges: Dry Creek Road Bridge across Dry Creek

September 2014 (38.71917 Degrees, -122.99889 Degrees) Dry Creek Road Bridge

The Dry Creek Road Bridge (20C0151) is a steel I girder bridge on pier walls over Dry Creek. It's also called the Board Bridge for some reason. The bridge is just downstream of the Warm Springs Dam, which is the big earthen embankment that can be seen in the photo above. It's a 3 span bridge with a 120 ft long center span over the creek. The bridge is on a 25 degree skew, it carries about 3000 vehicles a day, and it was built in 1951. 

Sonoma County, California Bridges: Dry Creek Road Bridge across Dry Creek by Mark Yashinsky is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Sonoma County, California Bridges: Crocker Road Bridge across the Russian River

September 2014 (38.7150 Degrees, -123.0158 Degrees) Crocker Road Bridge

The Crocker Road Bridge (20C0002) across the Russian River is an odd looking structure. It appears that the existing substructure was replaced with new over-sized two column bents. At some point they're likely to set new right and left bridge on each side of the spans and then remove the existing superstructure.

The bridge includes three Parker pony truss spans and steel girder approach spans. The bridge was seismically retrofitted with concrete pads on the bent caps to catch the spans if the pinned bearings were to break. 

Sonoma County, California Bridges: Crocker Road Bridge across the Russian River by Mark Yashinsky is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Sonoma County, California Bridges: Geysers Road Bridge across Old Sulphur Creek

September 2014 (38.82389 Degrees, -122.88278 Degrees) Geysers Road Bridge

Today's bridge was built somewhere else and later transported to its present location. As we shall see, there are a couple of these 'relocated' truss bridges in Sonoma County. I imagine someone had to disassemble the bridge, carefully label all the connections, load the pieces on a truck, and put the whole bridge back together again. Fortunately, the bridge is held together with pins (see photo below), which makes it easier to take it apart with a couple of wrenches (and maybe some cheater bars and WD-40). Hopefully the bridge wasn't so rusty when they were disassembling it.

The Geysers Road Bridge (20C0005) crosses over Old Sulphur Creek and it's in a very remote location. Geyser Road runs along a canyon high above the creek and I had to drive on the deteriorating one lane dirt road to get to the bridge. I read on the Bridgehunter Website that they are planning to bypass the existing structure and build a more seismically resistant bridge across the creek. Considering that the existing bridge carries only about 100 vehicles a day a new bridge seems like an expensive proposition. Perhaps a developer is hoping to turn this remote area into a bustling community?

This bridge has some nice details such as the cross-bracing on the corners of the portal frames and the thick, decorative compression members. In the photo above, the left member is encased in a sheath. Perhaps the original member was hit by a vehicle and now needs to be braced?

Sonoma County, California Bridges: Geysers Road Bridge across Old Sulphur Creek by Mark Yashinsky is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.