One of the most obvious signs of High Speed’s Rail’s (HSR) coming arrival to downtown Fresno has been the demolition – and now reconstruction – of the Tuolumne street bridge. The bridge was two lanes wide and carried traffic eastbound over the Union Pacific right of way. It was paired with the Stanislaus Street bridge which carries two lanes westbound.
Both bridges will be demolished and replaced by a single bridge carrying traffic in both directions. The bridge will feature wider sidewalks as well. The reason is that aside from being 50 years old (or more?), the current structure of the bridge does not allow enough room for the new High Speed Rail tracks to fit. Once the new bridge is in place, and the Stanislaus Street bridge has been demolished, more serious work can be done downtown to create the new tracks and station.
Meanwhile, other construction is underway just north of downtown, as they have begun to build a trench. However, I was unable to get any good pictures. The construction area is surrounded by private property or the highway.
Let’s take a look at the work on the bridge. I will begin with pictures I took back in January to see what it looked like a few days before closing forever. Below them are the pictures I took two weeks ago showing the current progress.
Here is the bridge back in January, taken from the sister bridge.
Frankly I don’t understand why so much space has been wasted for 100 years.
The bridge itself
Not the best of sidewalk conditions.
I’m sure the structure itself was on its way out.
Coming back you see the official sidewalk path – not ADA
The old pedestrian path also didn’t inspire much confidence in safety.
Frankly, I wouldn’t have felt comfortable parking here.
But these folks did.
There she is.
Wasn’t surprised to see this.
Looking towards Fulton.
That was January!
Now let us look at some recent pictures, starting from the other bridge again:
As an aside, here we are on the same bridge looking north. No other construction is visible.
I don’t know if this bridge will also be rebuilt (max zoom!)
Oddly, they removed the traffic signal head but kept the signal functioning. What was the point, huge waste of time. Should be blinking red.
Bridge used to touch down here.
A new view of these lofts. I don’t know if they’re losing their parking lot?
Now from H street.
The other bridge.
The new supports.
H is blocked off for construction.
I hope the new bridge has good lighting underneath, especially because it will be much wider.
And now walking back.
Hope you enjoyed the pictures!
