What's with all that construction!

Good news for Dunsmuir and travelers on I-5 …

 

Across the country and the state, beautiful older highway bridges are falling apart, and being replaced by modern plain-looking bridges. Luckily for Dunsmuir, Caltrans found the money and figured out a way to keep the graceful arches of the I-5 bridge over the Sacramento River, and extend the life of this beautiful bridge for us to enjoy.

 

Caltrans did this by replacing only the concrete roadway that is directly under the southbound lanes of the I-5 bridge and has kept the scenic arches of the bridge in place.  The graceful arches of the bridge were built in 1955, and now, 70 years later, the concrete roadway where the cars and trucks drive has been replaced.  Thank you, Caltrans, for planning ahead and for saving this bridge! 

 

With the completion of the replacement of the roadway, both the northbound and southbound lanes of I-5 are fully open to traffic.

 

Caltrans has finished the removal of the scaffolding and supports under the bridge that were used during the roadway replacement, and we've said good-bye to that very large crane that had become a fixture in our daily lives!

 

Caltrans is now following through on its basic obligation to return the impacted areas of the Park under the I-5 bridge to the same or better condition as they were before the construction. We have been continuing to work with Caltrans regarding the Park’s trees and plants that were affected, and helping to plan for their replacement when construction is done.  It addition, certain parts of the Park’s infrastructure (think benches and signs) will be returned to where they were in the Park. Caltrans expects that most of this restoration and recovery work will be finished by the end of April, with perhaps some last parts to be completed in May.

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Thank you, Caltrans!

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