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South Fork Kaweah River Bridge

Tulare County, California

Photos 

Replacement 2013 South Fork Kaweah River Bridge

Photo taken by Craig Philpott in January 2019

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BH Photo #442715

Map 

Description 

Bridge hasn't been replaced. Pictures supposedly show that the bridge was replaced in 2013. However,

1) Satellite view shows it as existing, which is normally not reliable, but nearby fires and constructions present on satellite views indicate them being current as of 2017.

2) Sufficiency rating from inspection in 2016 is 48/100, which is more consistent with a 50+ year old pony truss than a modern, recently built UCEB.

3) Records from 2016 inspection mentioned above still list the bridge as "truss-thru" and as built in 1952, not 2013.

4) Satellite views show that the road on both sides of the bridge is gravel. The road approaches in the supposed replacement pictures are paved.

I'm not entirely sure which bridge these pictures are of, but I think it was the wrong location. All indications show the truss bridge is still in existence. It appears that these pictures are actually of the Grouse Valley Road bridge, which is the next bridge downstream from this one.

Facts 

Overview
Pony truss bridge over South Fork Kaweah River on M348
Location
Tulare County, California
Status
Open to traffic
History
Built 1952
Design
Bailey pony truss
Dimensions
Length of largest span: 79.7 ft.
Total length: 82.0 ft.
Deck width: 11.2 ft.
Approximate latitude, longitude
+36.35130, -118.77865   (decimal degrees)
36°21'05" N, 118°46'43" W   (degrees°minutes'seconds")
Approximate UTM coordinates
11/340400/4024382 (zone/easting/northing)
Quadrangle map:
Dennison Peak
Average daily traffic (as of 1978)
25
Inventory numbers
CA 46C-195 (California bridge number)
BH 11710 (Bridgehunter.com ID)
Inspection report (as of June 2018)
Overall condition: Poor
Superstructure condition rating: Fair (5 out of 9)
Substructure condition rating: Good (7 out of 9)
Deck condition rating: Poor (4 out of 9)
Sufficiency rating: 47.8 (out of 100)
View more at BridgeReports.com

Categories 

Bailey truss (189)
Built 1952 (347)
Built during 1950s (4,015)
California (2,722)
One-lane traffic (7,931)
Open (41,014)
Owned by county (21,659)
 Pony truss (17,097)
Span length 75-100 feet (6,681)
Total length 75-100 feet (6,867)
Truss (36,061)
Tulare County, California (18)
Wooden deck (6,178)

Update Log 

  • June 9, 2019: Updated by Erik Hoffman: Bridge hasn't been replaced, pictures of 'replacement' are in wrong location. See description
  • January 20, 2019: New photos from Craig Philpott

Sources 

  • Craig Philpott - craigphilpott63 [at] gmail [dot] com
  • Erik Hoffman - norcalroadswebsite [at] gmail [dot] com
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Comments 

South Fork Kaweah River Bridge
Posted June 11, 2019, by Daniel

I agree. Photos also show that at least one end has a straight road for a significant distance, which isn't the case at this location.