Geyserville bridge damage - what a new year's party!
On the night of December 31, 2005 Northern California was in the
middle of a major storm, only days after a previous large
storm. Sonoma county's Russian River flooded - at the
route 128 bridge by Geyserville, the water ran over the top of the
bridge.
Some time that night one of the bridge's main pilings shifted several feet downstream, causing the bridge to experience a 'misalignment'.
Sounds just like some other New Year's parties I remember (barely).
As of late January, the bridge is still closed, awaiting emergency plans by Caltrans (there's a community meeting next week with Caltrans). The detour is across another bridge about 15 minutes to the south of this bridge.
The following photos are from Caltrans:
Some time that night one of the bridge's main pilings shifted several feet downstream, causing the bridge to experience a 'misalignment'.
Sounds just like some other New Year's parties I remember (barely).
As of late January, the bridge is still closed, awaiting emergency plans by Caltrans (there's a community meeting next week with Caltrans). The detour is across another bridge about 15 minutes to the south of this bridge.
The following photos are from Caltrans:
Bank View
Erosion
"Misalignment" is what Caltrans calls this photo - I guess you can see the double yellow lines shifted in the middle there...
The misalignment is more easily seen in this photo.
I snagged the next 2 photos from Flickr:
Here is a shot of a house 1/4 mile west of the 128 bridge: there is about 1' of flooding, so pretty much the whole Alexander Valley must have been under water. The geologists in the audience will know that this is good for the valley - it's river floods that deposit rich new soil in the valley. Next year's grape harvest could be good!
The river crested that night 3' higher than predicted, so many locals were surprised at how high the water ran.
Here is a shot of the road block protecting us from driving across the closed bridge.
Notice that they still aren't allowing Equiestrians on the sidewalk (are they supposed to use the road?), and fishing is still prohibited from the bridge as well.
I snagged the next 2 photos from Flickr:
Here is a shot of a house 1/4 mile west of the 128 bridge: there is about 1' of flooding, so pretty much the whole Alexander Valley must have been under water. The geologists in the audience will know that this is good for the valley - it's river floods that deposit rich new soil in the valley. Next year's grape harvest could be good!
The river crested that night 3' higher than predicted, so many locals were surprised at how high the water ran.
Here is a shot of the road block protecting us from driving across the closed bridge.
Notice that they still aren't allowing Equiestrians on the sidewalk (are they supposed to use the road?), and fishing is still prohibited from the bridge as well.
5 comments
Saturday, January 21, 2006 1
- 1:29pm richard:Do you think the bridge will be open within 6 months?
Wednesday, January 25, 2006 1
- 1:08pm robert:One neighbor told me she heard caltrans said it could take 2 years. That sounds like building a new bridge to me. I'm sure there'll be lots more info after the community meeting tonight...
Thursday, January 26, 2006 1
- 1:26pm jemma:2 years, hmm, in san luis obispo we like to take ten years to fix a bridge. i kid you not.
Saturday, January 28, 2006 1
- 12:33am nancy:Have you heard about all the sinkholes on Western Avenue in San Pedro? It's been more than a year and Western is still down to one lane in both directions. Don't expect anything rapid from Caltrans!
Sunday, January 29, 2006 1
- 9:00am katharine:yeah, adding on to aunt nancy's comment, since this is a bridge located over a stream bank, there is a huge amount of red tape that has to be ct before one can do anything to fix the bridge. Example; it took over 15 years for the foothill and santa rosa bridge over stenner creek in slo to be rebuilt. THis is because due to the clean water act, almost every government agency basically has to evaluateand write a sort of EIR. however i don't think it will take that long for this bridge. Probably a year.cool photos!
