Industrial History: 1927+1958+2003 I-80 Carquinez Bridges over Carquinez Strait at Crocket, CA

1927: (Bridge Hunter; HAER)

1958: (Bridge Hunter; Historic Bridges; Satellite)

2003: (Bridge Hunter; Satellite) The official name is Alfred Zampa Memorial Bridge

(Update: RoadTraffic-Technology article)

1927

Bridges Now and Then posted
Lifting the center section of the Carquinez Bridge into place at Crockett, California, 1927. (No credit found)
The 1927 bridge worked alongside the 1958 bridge until the Al Zampa Bridge opened in 2003. Today, the 1958 and 2003 bridges are in service, with the 1927 bridge removed in 2007.

Bridges Now and Then posted
Lifting a span of the Carquinez Bridge, Crockett, California, c. 1927. (Worthpoint)
Montana Albitre: That span is long gone now. Just it’s two younger siblings spanning the strait today.
Nengue Mboko: Not long gone .. not even twenty years.
Dennis DeBruler: Nengue Mboko This 1927 bridge was replaced in 1958. Today's 2003 bridge replaced the 1958 bridges.

Photo taken by C. J. Plummer, Lincoln Highway Association via BridgeHunter-1927
The original bridge was opened in 1927. The Lincoln Highway was rerouted across this bridge upon opening. A replica was built in 1958. The 1927 bridge carried westbound Interstate 80 traffic until it was replaced.
[Note that tower cranes that are building the towers for the suspension bridge.]

Photo by Craig Philpott of a Historical Display via BridgeHunter-1927

Old Postcard via BridgeHunter-1927

"At the time the Carquinez Straits Bridge opened, it was longest bridge west of the Mississippi River. (It predated the San Francisco Bay Bridge and Golden Gate Bridge by eleven years.) It was also the first bridge to be designed to resist seismic forces. The two main spans were 1100 feet in length, making it, at the time, the fourth longest cantilever bridge in the world. Construction began in 1923 and the bridge opened in 1927, replacing ferry service across the straits. The original route of The Lincoln Highway avoided the ferry crossing by coming from Stockton through Altamont Pass, then through Hayward to Oakland. Ferry service then carried the highway across the San Francisco Bay until 1938. When the Lincoln Highway was rerouted to cross the Carquinez Straits Bridge, the route was shortened by thirty miles." When I-80 was built, the second cantilever bridge was built with four lanes for the eastbound traffic. The westbound bridge was expanded from two to three narrow lanes by eliminating the pedestrian crossing. By the 21st Century, the traffic count was up to 105,000 vehicles per day. And it did not meet modern seismic standards. Rebuilding the bridge would be impractical so a new one was built, and the 1928 bridge was dismantled in 2006. [J. R. Manning via BridgeHunter-1927] Gordon Osmundson commented: "There is a serious error in your report on this bridge. It always had three lanes. One lane was for eastbound traffic and one for westbound. The center lane was for passing! Needless to say there were many head-on collisions. I have heard that this was the last such road in California. I've heard Caltrans people talk about it and I'm old enough to remember it."

HistoricBridges-articles, p1

The following show that both Manning and Osmundson were right: there was a passing lane and sidewalks.

HistoricBridges-articles, p4

One of several photos showing the deconstruction.

Joel Windmiller posted
Photo taken March 10 1927 Carquinez Bridge before placing concrete road deck.
Bridges Now and Then shared
Bridges Now and Then: I told this story years ago, here it is again. I hadn't been to the Bay Area for a long time, and I wasn't aware that they were building the third bridge. I got on the 1927 bridge in bad fog, headed toward SF, knowing the 1958 bridge was on my left. I just about shit myself when, in a break in the fog, I saw ANOTHER bridge to my right! I thought I'd lost my mind!
Joel Bader: The Encyclopaedia Britannica had two photos of the construction of the Carquinez bridge (the original one, I assume) in its articles about bridges and bridge construction. The caption noted they were provided by D. B. Steinman, who happened to be the engineer on that bridge--and who wrote part of the Britannica article. The article also noted the central spans were lifted into their position using cables and counterweights in less than an hour each, compared to the similarly elevated central span of the Quebec Bridge, which took about four days.
Scottie Demerest: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ADlHb8PfBk

1958

HAER CAL,48-VALL,1--6, cropped
6. View north showing both bridges (1959 on right, 1927 on left). The Crockett interchange is prominent in the bottom half of the image. - Carquinez Bridge, Spanning Carquinez Strait at Interstate 80, Vallejo, Solano County, CA

This is the widest tower I have ever seen for a cantilever bridge. It copies the 1927 design. I wonder if that extra width was part of the seismic strength of the bridge.

Street View

I included the solid concrete approach piers for comparison with the 2003 bridge below.

Street View

The main spans of 1,100' have a clearance of 145'. The 1927 bridge was removed three years after the 2003 bridge opened because the eastbound traffic was switched to that bridge while the 1958 bridge received a seismic retrofit. [HistoricBridges] I'm disappointed that California did not use the money that the dismantling cost to turn the 1928 bridge into a pedestrian, bike, emergency vehicles and bus bridge. (The 2003 bridge does have a 3.6 meter walkway on the west side. [ketchum])

The 1958 bridge built the suspended span in the air from both sides rather than lift a preassembled span off of barges as was done with the 1927 bridge. HistoricBridges-articles also includes a couple of articles about how a caisson was used to build the big central pier.

HistoricBridges-articles, p34

Several articles explained how the design used a new high-strength steel labeled T1. This steel not only allowed less steel to be used, it was more easily welded. And the use of bolts instead of rivets was rather new in 1958.

HistoricBridges-articles, p49

HistoricBridges-articles, p50

Bridges Now and Then posted
Building the 1958 Carquinez Bridge, Vallejo-Crockett, California. The 1927 bridge is seen to the right. (California Highways and Public Works Magazine)

2003

This is is the second time in two days that I have seen the cables strung past the suspension span to the ground level to reduce the height of the anchor block. (The first time was the original Chesapeake Bay Bridge.) Evidently reinforced concrete is very strong since there is no diagonal bracing in the towers. I guess if there is no bracing in the towers, I should not be surprised that there is no bracing in the piers. (I'm glad that this street view driver used the fast lane so that I can see over the side of the bridge and view the piers and anchorages.)

Street View

ketchum provides these illustrations and descriptions of the four bridge types that were considered for the 2003 bridge.

1
JMI's concept is illustrated here in a Caltrans-prepared rendering. It has two 1175 ft (358 m) main spans, and two 500 ft (152 m) side spans, with A-frame concrete towers and concrete box girder deck.

2
OPAC's concept is illustrated here in a Caltrans-prepared rendering. It has a 2350 ft (716 m) main span, and 500 ft (152 m) side spans, with batter-leg concrete frame towers and a steel box girder deck.

3
The arch alternative had a structural span arrangement a lot like the existing bridges, with two main spans of about 1,100 feet, supported by a central pier. The arch configuration is called "basket handle" because the curved arch ribs lean together as they extend above the roadway deck. This provides a very light and efficient structure.

4
The truss concept was architecturally similar to the 1958 bridge. It had two main spans of about 1175 ft (358 m) supported by a central pier, and 500 ft (152 m) side spans. The piers were concrete portal frames.

The cable-stayed and suspension types won the first round. Below is the refined designs of these types.

1
The final cable-stayed option had three diamond-shaped concrete towers and a concrete box girder deck. Stay cables would radiate outward and downward from the tops of the towers to support the deck.

2
The final suspension bridge option had two batter-leg concrete frame towers and an orthotropic steel box girder deck. Classic draped cables and vertical suspender ropes would support the slender aerodynamically streamlined deck.

"The suspension bridge alternative was selected for final design and construction, based on superior seismic performance, shorter construction schedule, less risk of ship impact due to fewer number of piers in the water, less maintenance on cable system, better aesthetics, and less construction risk. Projected construction costs for the two alternatives were quite similar." [ketchum]

OPAC was part of the team that performed the selection studies. Note that the OPAC design was the one that was chosen.

These are some of the details concerning the bridge design in ketchum.

1
The towers are supported on 3m diameter shaft piles. Steel casings were driven through overburden and into the top of the rock. Then an uncased rock socket was drilled below the casing. The rock socket and casing were then reinforced and concreted. Each tower is supported by twelve such shafts, with a maximum length of about 90m.

2
Reinforced concrete pile caps with precast concrete shells transfer vertical and lateral loads between piles and tower, and provide platforms for construction of the tower shafts. Each of the four pile caps is about 22m x 18m in plan, and 6m thick. Heavy reinforcement is required for long-term durability and for seismic resistance.

3
The towers are reinforced concrete portal frames with cellular shafts. The slightly inclined shafts allow clearance for the width of the continuous steel deck girder, yet allow the main cables to hang straight to support the edge of the deck. The tied walls and hoop-reinforced corner pilasters were specially developed to meet stringent seismic criteria.

4
The south cable anchorage transfers the thrust of the cables to the ground via massive concrete anchor blocks and a combination of batter piles and vertical piles. The splay chambers rise 18m above ground, while the anchor blocks extend about 10m beneath the ground surface.

5
The cables carry all loads from the deck to the towers and the ground. It was spun and compacted in the air from individual wires, using a computer-controlled spinning method that is an evolutionary enhancement of the method used on the Bay and Golden Gate bridges.

The cable anchors on the north side are embedded in the bedrock.