|
The Carquinez Bridge refers to parallel bridges which cross the Carquinez Strait linking Vallejo, California to the north, with Crockett, California to the south. The original bridge, a steel cantilever bridge, was designed by Robinson & Steinman and dedicated on May 21, 1927; costing eight million dollars to build, it was the first major bridge in the San Francisco Bay Area. Upon completion of the 1927 bridge, the Lincoln Highway was rerouted over the span. The Lincoln Highway was the first road across America. Its original alignment from Sacramento to San Francisco went through Stockton, Banta, Tracy, Altamont Pass, Livermore, Dublin, Hayward and Oakland, to avoid the un-bridged waterways of the San Francisco Bay and the Sacramento Delta. With the new bridge, the Sacramento to San Francisco route was realigned in 1928 through Davis, Dixon, Vacaville, Fairfield, Cordelia, Jameson Canyon, Vallejo, Carquinez Strait, Pinole, Richmond and Berkeley - a significantly shorter and quicker alignment. The 1927 Carquinez Bridge was the biggest bridge on the entire 3389 mile Lincoln Highway. In 1958, a similar parallel bridge was built alongside the original one to accommodate the ever-increasing traffic. The original 1927 span served westbound traffic while the newer 1958 span served eastbound traffic. In 2003, as a resolution to seismic problems of the aging 1927 span, a new suspension bridge was opened to replace it. This new bridge was named the Alfred Zampa Memorial Bridge, after an ironworker who worked on a number of the San Francisco Bay Area bridges, including the Golden Gate Bridge. The new span features a pedestrian and bicycle path, completing a bike trail which circles the entire Bay Area. The new span measures 0.66 miles (3465 feet / 1056.1 m / 1.06 km). The bridge was dedicated on November 8, 2003 and opened for traffic on November 11. It is currently the newest suspension bridge built in the United States. The 1927 span is now in a demolition phase, which will be completed in 2007. The bridges are signed as part of Interstate 80. Toll is only charged to eastbound traffic.
Trivia | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
|
| |