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.