Dumbarton Rail Bridge | |
|---|---|
 The bridge in 2021. | |
| Coordinates | 37°29′35″N 122°06′59″W / 37.493137°N 122.116478°W |
| Carried | single-track railway |
| Crossed | San Francisco Bay (Newark Slough) |
| Other name(s) | Dumbarton Point Bridge Dumbarton Bridge |
| Named for | Dumbarton Point |
| Owner | SamTrans[1] |
| Characteristics | |
| Design | Pratt through truss with central swing Pennsylvania (Petit) through truss span, timber trestle approaches on east and west |
| Total length | 8,058 feet (2,456 m) (including approaches & Newark Slough Bridge) 1,390 feet (420 m) (steel structure)[2] |
| Traversable? | No |
| Longest span | 310 feet (94 m) |
| No. of spans | 7, excluding approaches |
| History | |
| Designer | William Hood[3] |
| Constructed by | Southern Pacific[3] |
| Construction start | c.1907 |
| Construction end | June 1910 |
| Construction cost | US$3,500,000 (equivalent to $114,500,000 in 2023)[2] |
| Inaugurated | September 12, 1910 |
| Collapsed | 1998 |
| Closed | 1982 |
| Location | |
 | |
The Dumbarton Rail Bridge lies just to the south of the Dumbarton road bridge. Built in 1910, the rail bridge was the first structure to span San Francisco Bay, shortening the rail route between Oakland and San Francisco by 26 miles (42 km). The last freight train traveled over the bridge in 1982, and it has been proposed since 1991 to reactivate passenger train service (connecting Caltrain on the Peninsula with ACE, BART and the Capitol Corridor in the East Bay) to relieve traffic on the road bridges, though this would entail a complete replacement of the existing bridge. Part of the western timber trestle approach collapsed in a suspected arson fire in 1998.[4]
- ^ Bradshaw, Kate (6 November 2018). "Dumbarton rail project to get full environmental, fiscal analysis". The Almanac. Retrieved 10 November 2018.
- ^ a b Cite error: The named reference
SFCall-1910-09-25was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ a b Cite error: The named reference
SFCall-1910-09-01was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Kazak, Don (1998-01-07). "FIREFIGHTERS: Dumbarton rail bridge destroyed". Palo Alto Online. Archived from the original on 2004-08-14. Retrieved 2015-05-25.