Orangevale Avenue Bridge
Description
According to the Heritage Preservation League of Folsom, the historic Orangevale Bridge, an open spandrel arch, is under fire to possibly be destroyed in order to be replaced by a UCEB. With a tip o' the hat to members of the league for letting us know about this. Another salute is due to the league and the California Chapter of the Lincoln Highway Association, as efforts are underway to fight the destruction and preseve the historic bridge by converting it to single lane traffic.The bridge was on the declaration route of the Lincoln Highway.
During 1927 the bridge became a part of 'Lincoln Highway' that at the time provided the best and fastest route between New York and San Francisco, and from 1915 to 1948 the bridge provided the main connection between Folsom and Orangevale. During this time the bridge connected the citrus groves, orchards and produce gardens of Orangevale, Fair Oaks and Carmichael with the processing and shipping businesses in Folsom.
Drury D. Butler. During the period when Butler first became the Sacramento County Surveyor [Engineer], the counties were responsible for providing the bridges for State Highways.
Butler planned and designed a commercial gateway road project in Folsom to connect the fruit producing areas across the river in Orangevale, Fair Oaks and Carmichael, with the railhead in Folsom. This project required three new bridges and utilized Theodore Judah’s abandoned Central California Railroad bed. One bridge was build during each of the three years that it took to build this economically important project. The Orangevale Avenue Bridge over Gold Creek was the first, completed in 1915. This bridge was the first open spandrel reinforced concrete arch, a relatively new structure type, built in Sacramento County.
There are 38 bridges built by the County during Butler’s time in office that are still in use today. He had oversight of the four Joseph Strauss bascule bridges built over the Sacramento River; he built the 12th Street Bridge and the Folsom Rainbow Bridge over the American River. The H Street steel through Truss Bridge over the American River was designed and built under his leadership.
Source: American Society of Civil Engineers, Northern California Section. See:http://asce-sacto.org/images/downloads/Documents/sacramento_section_individual_awards.pdf.
Facts
- Overview
- Concrete open spandral arch bridge over Gold Creek on Orangevale Avenue in Folsom
- Location
- Folsom, Sacramento County, California
- Status
- Bridge is now open
- History
- Built 1915
- Builders
- - Drury D. Butler (Sacramento County Surveyor)
- W.N. Concanon of San Francisco, California
- Design
- Concrete open spandrel deck arch.
- Dimensions
-
Length of largest span: 100.1 ft.
Total length: 161.1 ft.
Deck width: 18.0 ft.
- Also called
- Gold Creek Bridge
- Approximate latitude, longitude
- +38.68091, -121.19427 (decimal degrees)
38°40'51" N, 121°11'39" W (degrees°minutes'seconds") - Approximate UTM coordinates
- 10/657066/4282915 (zone/easting/northing)
- Quadrangle map:
- Folsom
- Land survey
- Lat. 38 degrees -48
- Average daily traffic (as of 2008)
- 1,000
- Inventory numbers
- CA 24C-268 (California bridge number)
BH 11294 (Bridgehunter.com ID) - Inspection report (as of May 2018)
- Overall condition: Fair
Superstructure condition rating: Good (7 out of 9)
Substructure condition rating: Good (7 out of 9)
Deck condition rating: Fair (5 out of 9)
Sufficiency rating: 54.8 (out of 100)
View more at BridgeReports.com
Update Log
- June 3, 2017: New photos from Joel Windmiller
- October 4, 2013: New Street View added by J.P.
- June 16, 2013: Updated by Mike Lynch: Added information on bridge use and engineer Drury W. Butler, Sacramento County Survey (Engineer) overseeing the bridge construction.
- June 15, 2012: Updated by Clark Vance: Added category "W. N. Concanon, Builder"
- June 12, 2012: New photo from Brian Smith
- June 4, 2011: Updated by Craig Philpott: Added photos, added alternate name
- May 14, 2011: Updated by Craig Philpott: corrected location
- January 13, 2010: Updated by J.R. Manning: Added to Lincoln Highway category
Related Bridges
- Figueroa Street Bridge (Same project)
Sources
- J.R. Manning - thekitchenguy [at] sbcglobal [dot] net
- The Heritage Preservation League of Folsom - Newsletter article about the subject bridge
- Orangevale Avenue Bridge Informational Website - Public Information about the bridge project
- Craig Philpott - craigphilpott63 [at] gmail [dot] com
- Brian Smith - casigns28 [at] outlook [dot] com
- Clark Vance - cvance [at] dogmail [dot] com
- Mike Lynch - lynch3212 [at] wavecable [dot] com
- J.P. - wildcatjon2000 [at] gmail [dot] com
- Joel Windmiller
Comments
Just spent some time inspecting the rehabilitated span. Its such a beautiful bridge. I think the engineers stayed true to her original design. One has to really look to see the blend between the old and the new, very nicely done.
May she last another hundred years and more!
Here is a news article on the ongoing rehab: http://www.folsomtelegraph.com/article/4/13/17/road-closed-w...
In my home state of Michigan, bridge projects are typically a local curiosity and it is customary for nearby residents to walk down into a construction site to see what's going on at the end of the day. Apparently this is not allowed in California because they have a nasty sign posted saying "No Trespassing Alarm Will Sound, Police Will Be Dispatched" so apparently this bridge is being guarded like a diamond in a museum!!!
1951 Orangevale bridge is closed to replace eastern abutment large crack plus deck spandrel supports deck and railing to original condition.
Currently undergoing major rehabilitation. Work includes replacement of deck, spandrel columns and one abutment in kind. Original arches to remain.
This page's URL is http://bridgehunter.com/ca/sacramento/24C0268/
Here is a 3D Model rotation of the Gold Creek Bridge.
Attachment #1 (video/mp4; 59,635,171 bytes)