The San Joaquin River Viaduct is a bridge built to carry California High-Speed Rail over the San Joaquin River. Most of the bridge is in the city of Fresno, California, in Fresno County, although the portion north of the center line of the river is in

Madera County Madera County (), officially the County of Madera, is a county at the geographic center of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 156,255. The county seat is Madera. Madera County comprises the Madera, CA Metr ...

. It is the second major river crossing built for the high-speed rail line, after the Fresno River Viaduct to the north. The bridge combines a double concrete arch span crossing the river with a

pergola A pergola is most commonly an outdoor garden feature forming a shaded walkway, passageway, or sitting area of vertical posts or pillars that usually support cross-beams and a sturdy open lattice, often upon which woody vines are trained. The ...

structure to carry the high-speed tracks over Union Pacific Railroad

Fresno Subdivision The Fresno Subdivision is a railroad in California owned and operated by the Union Pacific Railroad. Mostly built by the Southern Pacific Railroad in the 1870s, the line traverses the San Joaquin Valley on a northwest to southeast alignment. Rou ...

tracks. The river crossing is immediately upstream of the Union Pacific and California State Route 99 bridges.

History

In 2012, the City of Fresno recommended building a through arch bridge with return arches to transition gracefully to the flanking box girder bridge segments and make it more visually appealing. However, conceptual drawings in 2016 showed a different arch structure that lacked the return arches. The bridge is part of CAHSR's Construction Package 1, the contract for which was awarded in August 2013. Preliminary statnamic load testing on the riverbed occurred in February 2015 to test the stability of the bridge foundation in an earthquake. Construction began in April 2016, and was expected to take two to three years. By February 2019, crews were working over the San Joaquin River and making final preparations before placing concrete at the east archway of the viaduct. The concrete placement was while crews continued forming up the west archway and building an additional scaffold. These arches act as a suspension bridge support for the bridge span over the river. The bridge was deemed completed in May 2021.

References

External links

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San Joaquin River Viaduct – California High-Speed Rail
{{coord, 36.844161, -119.932481, display=title California High-Speed Rail Railroad bridges in California Transportation buildings and structures in Fresno County, California Transportation buildings and structures in Madera County, California Concrete bridges in California Viaducts in the United States Arch bridges in the United States Buildings and structures under construction in the United States