Bridge Structure
The Fair Oaks Bridge is an excellent example of bridge construction and technology advancement in the mid-to-late 19th century. It is a Pennsylvania Petit through Pratt truss bridge that extends nearly 500 feet (150 m) across a wide bend in the American River and is the second oldest out of ten surviving bridges of this type in the state of California (behind the historic truss bridge in Folsom that connects to Orangevale, built in 1893). The Sacramento County Surveyor hoped to minimize the number of piers in this dangerous current that necessitated very long main spans. The Pennsylvania Petit specifically addressed such applications. The two 200’ spans were quite daring for their time. The bridge is also a rare example of the Western Bridge and Construction Company of Omaha that built truss bridges throughout the West but only rarely in California.
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Famous quotes containing the words bridge and/or structure:
“Like a bridge over troubled water
I will lay me down.”
—Paul Simon (b. 1949)
“... the structure of our public morality crashed to earth. Above its grave a tombstone read, “Be tolerant—even of evil.” Logically the next step would be to say to our commonwealth’s criminals, “I disagree that it’s all right to rob and murder, but naturally I respect your opinion.” Tolerance is only complacence when it makes no distinction between right and wrong.”
—Sarah Patton Boyle, U.S. civil rights activist and author. The Desegregated Heart, part 2, ch. 2 (1962)