High flows can shut down this Tuolumne bridge. New one will start to rise in spring
A new Hickman Road bridge over the Tuolumne River will start to rise under a $17.7 million contract approved Tuesday night.
The Stanislaus County Board of Supervisors voted 5-0 to award the job to MCM Construction Inc. of North Highlands, Sacramento County.
Construction will start by early June and finish in October 2021, said Chris Brady, deputy director at Stanislaus County Public Works.
The bridge will replace a 1964 structure that is prone to erosion of its concrete supports during very high river flows. It closed temporarily in February 2017 because of the opening of the Don Pedro Dam spillway in advance of record snowmelt.
“If the river rises to a certain high point, it could wash away the foundation and the bridge would topple,” then-Public Works Director Matt Machado said.
The new bridge will have one motor vehicle lane in each direction and a sidewalk for pedestrians and bicycles. The old structure will remain in use while the replacement is built just upstream.
The bridge, just south of Highway 132, connects Hickman with Waterford and with the Oakdale-Waterford Highway.
The vast majority of the funding is from a federal bridge program. Other sources include the state’s new fuel tax, the county’s Measure L tax, the city of Waterford and other local sources.
MCM was the lowest of five bidders on the project.
This story was originally published March 19, 2020 at 7:24 AM.
