Rating:
1 vote

Caribou Road Bridge

Plumas County, California

Photos 

Caribou Road Bridge

Looking East

Photo taken by Craig Philpott in March 2010

Enlarge

BH Photo #157370

Map 

Facts 

Overview
Deck plate girder bridge over North Fork Feather River on Caribou Road
Location
Plumas County, California
Status
Open to traffic
History
Built 1952
Design
Steel deck plate girder with wood trestle approach.
Dimensions
Length of largest span: 69.9 ft.
Total length: 157.2 ft.
Deck width: 14.1 ft.
Also called
Road 27N26 Bridge
Approximate latitude, longitude
+40.04664, -121.21713   (decimal degrees)
40°02'48" N, 121°13'02" W   (degrees°minutes'seconds")
Approximate UTM coordinates
10/652085/4434456 (zone/easting/northing)
Quadrangle map:
Caribou
Elevation
2470 ft. above sea level
Inventory number
BH 44355 (Bridgehunter.com ID)
Inspection (as of 07/2013)
Deck condition rating: Satisfactory (6 out of 9)
Superstructure condition rating: Good (7 out of 9)
Substructure condition rating: Good (7 out of 9)
Sufficiency rating: 84.0 (out of 100)

Categories 

Beam (11,970)
Built 1952 (259)
Built during 1950s (3,264)
California (2,308)
Deck girder (4,505)
Girder (7,969)
Open (36,583)
 Owned by National Forest Service (213)
Owned by federal government (992)
Plate girder (6,139)
Plumas County, California (52)
Span length 50-75 feet (8,903)
Timber stringer (3,342)
Total length 125-175 feet (5,245)

Update Log 

  • March 7, 2010: Added by Craig Philpott

Sources 

Post a comment here
Contact webmaster

Comments 

Caribou Road Bridge
Posted June 12, 2011, by Ken Mills (millsken16 [at] gmail [dot] com)

I camp here many times, fishing under the bridge and camping nearby. This is a railroad bridge with 12x12 or so uprights on sturdy concrete footings nearly every 3-5 foot and a ton of bracing. It is NOT a turntable it is just a bridge that turns for the canyon terrain. A turntable would be to turn an engine around this is not that. In fact the railroad was used to haul men and supplies into the powerplant and dam worksite as well as haul pennstock tunnel rock out. The turning of the small 0-4-0 tank type engine was done at times with the powerhouse crane, a picture which reportedly is still in the powerhouse. The bridge sounds wonderful crossing it and is a gem of the area.

Caribou Road Bridge
Posted March 9, 2010, by Nathan Holth (form3 [at] historicbridges [dot] org)

Strongly agree that it appears to be an old railroad turntable. Compare this bridge to a bridge that I have proof was a turntable (because of the text and patents listed on the builder plaque) http://www.historicbridges.org/michigan/turntable/index.htm

Caribou Road Bridge
Posted March 7, 2010, by Craig Philpott (cphilpott [at] puc [dot] edu)

This bridge is a few miles up a side canyon of the North Fork of the Feather River canyon. The main canyon holds the Union Pacific RR line which was opened in 1909 and operates to this day.

Caribou Road Bridge
Posted March 7, 2010, by David A. Shaw (scpry [at] gwi [dot] net)

It looks like the main span may have an old turntable bridge. Was this an old railroad grade converted to a road?

Caribou Road Bridge
Posted March 7, 2010, by Craig Philpott (cphilpott [at] puc [dot] edu)

I am interested in responses to this deck plate girder design. I would describe it as an inverted camelback deck plate girder. I have not seen another of this type.