Healdsburg Avenue Bridge over the Russian River Project

The Healdsburg Avenue Bridge over the Russian River in CA was recently named a 2017 Public Works Project of the Year by the American Public Works Association (APWA). The project is being honored with APWA’s Project of the Year award in the Small Cities/Rural Communities – Historical Restoration/Preservation category. This award honors agencies representing cities and communities with a population of 75,000 or less that include historical restoration, preservation and adaptive reuse of existing buildings, structures, and facilities, etc.

The Small Cities/Rural Communities Project of the Year Award was established to promote excellence in demonstrating creativity, ingenuity and efficiency in the delivery of public works projects that have a profound impact on the community. For 2017, the team of winners includes the City of Healdsburg, CA, as the managing agency; Granite Construction, as the primary contractor; and Omni-Means, Ltd. as the primary consultant; who will be presented with the award during APWA’s 2017 PWX, Public Works Expo, annual conference taking place in Orlando, FL Ceremony during August 27-30, 2017.

The Healdsburg Avenue Bridge over the Russian River is a two-span steel Parker Truss bridge that was built in 1921. The bridge, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, holds a special place in the local community, as it has served the growing community of Healdsburg over 90 years, but after the 1989 Loma Prieta Earthquake, the bridge was determined to be seismically vulnerable and was slated by the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) for a seismic retrofit. In addition to the seismic vulnerabilities, the bridge center pier was also determined to be susceptible to failure due to scour (underwater erosion) from the fast-flowing waters within the Russian River. The future of the bridge was undetermined, with proposals for the demolition and replacement of the bridge on the table for several years.

One of the more unusual challenges involved in saving the bridge happened when the city undertook ownership of the bridge from Caltrans in 1980, who provided a structural rating that found the bridge unable to support heavy loads. However, a long time Healdsburg citizen, acting as an interested citizen with an engineering background, was requested by Healdsburg’s Mayor in 2007 to review a consultant’s bridge option report, in which he discovered some errors, and the eventual correction made the possibility of rehabilitation of the structure a more viable option.

The intersection sight distance from Front Street west of the bridge had also been a problem. Prior to rehabilitation, a chain link fence had been installed on the bridge to prevent jumping from the bridge deck into the river below. However, it blocked the view of vehicles turning onto and off the bridge from Front Street, and the existing steel lattice pedestrian railing did not meet current design standards and required replacement with a modern railing system. Several new railing concepts were developed including an innovative new steel cable railing that preserved the historic lattice railing, while simultaneously improving sight distance. After review of 3D visual simulations prepared by Omni-Means, SHPO concurred with the selection of the new cable railing system. The intersection was also reconstructed to improve turning and a signal was added to provide for protected turning movements onto and off the bridge, further improving the safety of the intersection.

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