BENICIA-MARTINEZ BRIDGE

The 'Benicia-Martinez Bridge' refers to three parallel bridges which cross the Carquinez Strait just west of Suisun Bay; it links Benicia, California in the north with Martinez, California to the south. The 1.2 mile (1.9 km) deck truss bridge opened in 1962 as a replacement to the last automotive ferry service in the San Francisco Bay Area. The 1962 bridge consists of seven 528-foot spans which provide 138 feet of vertical clearance, carrying three lanes of traffic in the southbound direction. (Planned upgrades will provide four lanes of traffic and a bicycle/pedestrian lane.) A 1.7 miles (2.7 km) bridge was built alongside and opened on August 25, 2007 which carries five lanes of northbound traffic. The cost to construct the 1962 span was US$25 million and US$1.3 billion to build the 2007 span ^[2]. The bridge is part of Interstate 680, itself a major transportation link, and connects several other heavily traveled freeways.
Between the two vehicle bridges is a railroad bridge.

Contents

Current tolls

Adjacent railroad bridge

New Northbound Span

See also

References

External links

Current tolls

The Benicia-Martinez bridge toll plaza is located at the south end of the bridge. Tolls are only charged for northbound traffic. The toll plaza has nine toll booths, with two open road tolling lanes and one carpool lane. This bridge is the first open road tolling facility in Northern California

Adjacent railroad bridge

A railroad bridge owned by Union Pacific Railroad spans the waterway between the two vehicle bridges. The railroad bridge was built by Southern Pacific Railroad between 1928 and 1930. Prior to the railroad bridge's opening in 1930, the railroad used a ferry between Benicia and Port Costa, California. The ferry, built at Oakland, California in 1879 and named the ''Solano'', was the world's largest train ferry. In 1914, a second ferry named the ''Contra Costa'' was built. The ferries ended service in 1930 with the completion of the railroad bridge.

New Northbound Span

A new bridge was constructed east of and parallel to the railroad bridge. It measures approximately 1.7 miles (2.7 km). The new bridge carries five lanes of northbound traffic. The older bridge is undergoing seismic retrofits and will carry four lanes of southbound traffic, as well as a bicycle/pedestrian lane. The bridge construction also included a new toll plaza with nine toll booths, two open road tolling lanes and one carpool lane at the south end of the bridge, although tolls will continue to be charged only for northbound traffic.
The new toll plaza was retrofitted for open road tolling in order to encourage increased FasTrak usage. This required the removal of eight toll booths previously constructed.
The bridge is the largest lightweight concrete segmental bridge in California. The estimated cost of building the bridge was $1.05 billion, the final cost was $1.3 billion. The new bridge opened to public traffic at 10:30pm on August 25, 2007.^[3][4]

See also

★ California Pacific Railroad

References

1. 2006 Named Freeways, Caltrans, 2007-01. Retrieved on 2007-09-06.
2. Bay Area's newest bridge is open for business
3. The Benicia Bridge
4. First cars drive over new Benicia Bridge

External links

★ California Dept. of Transportation: Benicia-Martinez Bridge History & Information

★ Caltrans' New Benicia-Martinez Bridge project page

★ Earth Mechanics Inc. Benicia bridge project page - EMI is the geotechnical engineer for the new bridge

★ Benicia-Martinez Bridge may cost millions more - Contra Costa Times article about technical difficulties

★

★