Adventure 009, Bridge 008 – Lane's Bridge

Sherri the Bridgewalker

 Capture California, the Game-2013

Adventure: 009, Bridge 008 – Lane's Bridge

Team: YOLT

Date:  June 18, 2013

Location: Fresno, 36°52'34" N, 119°47'31" W

Description:
We learned something new tonight. Two years ago when we walked this bridge, all which we could call the bridge was old Highway 41 bridge over the San Joaquin River, that is pretty good in itself. This evening we found a plaque naming it Lane's Bridge.  But about 20 years ago, the two lane highway was replaced with a six lane highway and moved. But this old road is still there and is used to bring people into a mobile park.

The 750' length bridge was walked. The largest span is 60', with 14 spans making up the roadway. It was originally constructed in 1941. It can still hold 71 tons of traffic. Why is this called Lane's Bridge? Will, not sure, but according to Paula Lloyd of the Fresno Bee,

View of the San Joaquin from the bridge

In that answer was an account of the collapse of the original 1889 bridge. Below is the last part of the detailed accounting.
“The collapse pulled the bridge loose from its moorings on the west end,” Lloyd wrote.
(“West end” of the bridge no doubt provides another clue).
In any event, “A replacement bridge was built for $235,000. It’s not clear whether that replacement bridge still exists,” Lloyd related.

But that is not all, at the turn of the century, there was a small town at this location. What was it called? Bridges, CA-it even had a post office. Why was it called that? Because of the Lanes Bridge cross. A drawing of the original bridge can be found online.