Pit River Bridge

This article is about the bridge in California. Not to be confused with the Pitt River Bridge in British Columbia.
Pit River Bridge
Coordinates40°45′44″N 122°19′08″W / 40.762337°N 122.318886°W / 40.762337; -122.318886
Carries I-5 and Union Pacific Railroad (former Southern Pacific line)
CrossesShasta Lake
LocaleShasta County, California
Official nameVeterans of Foreign Wars Memorial Bridge
Characteristics
DesignWarren deck truss
Total length3,588 feet (1,094 m)
Height500 feet (150 m)
Longest span630 feet (190 m)
No. of spans8
Piers in water7
History
Opened1942
Location
Map

The Pit River Bridge (officially the Veterans of Foreign Wars Memorial Bridge[1]) is a double deck, deck truss, road and rail bridge over Shasta Lake in Shasta County, California. The bridge, carrying Interstate 5 on its upper deck and Union Pacific Railroad on its lower deck, was built in 1942 as part of the construction of the Shasta Dam/Shasta Lake reservoir system.[2] The Pit River Bridge was constructed to replace the Lower Pit River Bridge, as the rising waters of the Shasta Lake reservoir would have put the older bridge underwater.[3][4] The entire bridge spans 3,588 feet (1,094 m) long on the upper deck and 2,754 feet (839 m) on the lower deck.[2] With a height of 500 feet (150 m) above the old Pit River bed, it is structurally the highest double decked bridge in the United States; however, today the bridge sits only about 40 feet (12 m) above the water when Shasta Lake is full.[3] The bridge is Interstate 5's halfway point.

At the time it was built, the highway on the bridge was signed as U.S. Route 99 and the rail line was owned by Southern Pacific. The Coast Starlight, the passenger train line operated by Amtrak that runs between Los Angeles and Seattle, also uses the bridge.[2]

The bridge is officially known as the Veterans of Foreign Wars Memorial Bridge, to honor military veterans from California who have fought in foreign wars.[1]

The Pit River Bridge was the subject of the 1954 Pulitzer Prize for Photography winner entitled "Rescue on Pit River Bridge", taken by Virginia Schau.[5]

  • Pit River Bridge
    Pit River Bridge
  • Pit River Bridge before its pylons were inundated by Shasta Lake
    Pit River Bridge before its pylons were inundated by Shasta Lake
  • Construction work on Pit River bridge
    Construction work on Pit River bridge
  • Circa 1942
    Circa 1942
  • "Rescue on Pit River Bridge"
    "Rescue on Pit River Bridge"
  1. ^ a b "2014 Named Freeways, Highways, Structures and Other Appurtenances in California" (PDF). California Department of Transportation. Retrieved September 26, 2015.
  2. ^ a b c "Pit River Bridge Impact Study of I-5 Closure From a Catastrophic Failure" (PDF). Caltrans. September 2012. Retrieved September 26, 2015.
  3. ^ a b "Sightseeing on Shasta Lake" (PDF). United States Forest Service. Retrieved September 26, 2015.
  4. ^ "Shasta Dam: A Tour Through Time" (PDF). United States Bureau of Reclamation. Retrieved September 26, 2015.
  5. ^ Dhaliwal, Ranjit. "Pictures from the past: Rescue on Pit River Bridge". The Guardian. Retrieved 4 March 2018.