Another bridge is about to open over the Tuolumne River. This one has a special feature
The new Hickman Road bridge over the Tuolumne River will open Monday, Nov. 22, replacing one from 1964 that did not do well during floods.
The new span has two lanes for motor vehicles and a sidewalk for pedestrians and bicycles running about 750 feet south from Highway 132 in Waterford.
MCM Construction Inc. of North Highlands, Sacramento County, did the job on a $17.7 million contract with Stanislaus County Public Works. Construction started in June 2020.
Drivers can start to use the new bridge at 2 p.m. Monday. Hickman Road remains closed in that area while crews do the finishing touches on the bridge this week.
A federal bridge program covered the vast majority of the cost. Other sources include the state’s fuel tax, the county’s Measure L tax, the city of Waterford and other local sources.
The old two-lane bridge could suffer erosion on its concrete supports when the Tuolumne was running high. 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 old structure was not entirely useless, the department said in a news release Monday. More than 6,000 bats made it their home, and the new bridge has special “houses” designed for them.
The project is right next to the old bridge, which MCM plans to demolish by early spring.
The Hickman Road project is one of several over the past two decades on rivers in the county. The Tuolumne has newer crossings at Santa Fe Avenue, Ninth Street and Carpenter Road. Funding is still being assembled for a new Seventh Street Bridge and for longer-range plans to bridge the Tuolumne between Garner and Faith Home roads.
McHenry Avenue has a new bridge over the Stanislaus River. Another is under construction where Crows Landing Road crosses the San Joaquin River.
This story was originally published November 17, 2021 at 5:00 AM.
