Up the Lazy River

In a desperate attempt to keep my mind off the approaching apocalypse, i mounted another bridge expedition, this time to photograph all the bridges over the Sacramento River.

Starting at the mouth of the river, the first bridge is in Rio Vista on CA-12, the 1960 Helen Madere Memorial Bridge, a vertical-lift drawbridge, and it’s a beauty.  Here it is from the bank of the river at the west end.

And a closeup of the towers.

And now, crossing the bridge, a shot from the east bank of the river.

Closer

Now we head north on CA-160 to Isleton, where we cross the 1923 Isleton Bridge, an unmodified example of the Strauss heel trunnion bascule bridge with the bascule portion freshly painted bright yellow.

The bascules alone.

A closeup of the mechanism.

Finally, across the bridge for a full shot from the other side.

On north on CA-160 to Walnut Grove for the 1951 Walnut Grove Bridge, also one of Strauss’ heel trunion bascule bridges.  Strauss got a major share of the drawbridge market for many years with this design.  They were ugly but cheaper than the alternatives and superbly functional.  He dotted the country with dozens of them, and many of them are still hard at work with little repair after nearly a century.

A closeup.

And here’s the humongous counterweight.

The next bridge north on CA-160 over the Sacramento is at Paintersville, but a couple of miles before i got to it, i crossed this beauty.

Turns out it’s the Steamboat Slough Bridge over, yes, Steamboat Slough just as it pours into the Sacramento River.  It’s from 1924 and is yet another of Strauss’ heel trunnion bascule bridges still in great working order after being refurbished in 1950.  Here’s a shot from the end.

And a counterweight shot.  Owing to all the trees along the levee, i couldn’t get a landscape mode shot.

Now up CA-160 another mile to the Paintersville Bridge from 1923, another of Strauss’ work.  It was rehabilitated in 1952 and tuned up in 2000.

An end shot.  And yes, it’s another Strauss heel trunnion bascule bridge.  They just keep on flapping their bascules.

And finally, zooming in on the counterweight.

A few more miles north on CA-160 we find the 1929 Freeport Bridge. yet another Strauss workhorse and, like the others here at the bottom end of the river, the bascule portion is virtually unmodified although it didn’t get the yellow paint job.

This one was a bit harder to photograph, but here’s a closeup.

The next bridge north is in Sacramento, the Pioneer Memorial Bridge on I-80.  Ain’t hardly nothing written about this bridge, so about all i could find was its name and that it was built in 1966.

I drove around quite a bit at the western end of this bridge trying to find a vantage from which to photograph it.  Here’s all i could get before i realized that what i really needed more than a shot of this bridge was a bathroom.

And my selected bathroom was in an Indian restaurant, where, screw the buffet, i got them to make me some saag paneer with a piece of naan.  Since they did it from scratch, it took quite some time while i studied maps trying to figure out how to get to a vantage for the bridge.

Finally, they brought it out, and it was delicious, but when i returned to my car i realized that the sun was about to set.

So that’s it for this excursion.  Next week i’ll go back to the above bridge and then take my search for bridges and good Indian cuisine farther north along the Sacramento.  Stay tuned.