Crossing the Sacramento River in the early twentieth century was made diffcult by two narrow bridges, both of which were built by and for the railroad in 1911.

I (Eye) Street Bridge (1911)

In the photos above you can see the I Street Bridge, which is a two level Swing Truss bridge, with the railroad tracks on the lower level and the auto and pedestrian level above with narrow curved approaches on either side. This bridge carried Legislative Route 6 (Pre-US routes 40-99). During the construction of the Tower Bridge in 1935 US 40-99W traffic was diverted onto this bridge. Of the two 1911 spans only this one still stands and until 1980 it carried a state route over the Sacramento River when SR-16 section through Sacramento was decommissioned. Today you still can find SR-16 mile markers along the Garden Highway into Woodland. Before the Yolo Causeway was built, US 40 traveled up the Garden Highway to Woodland then turned south into Davis.

____________________________________________________________________

1911 "M" Street Bridge

Photo Courtesy of

M Street Bridge (1911)

The original M Street Bridge was built by the Sacramento Northern Electric Railroad in 1911 and linked the cities of Washington (West Sacramento) and Sacramento. It carried electric railcars (similar to the present Light-rail) loaded with passengers and freight. This bridge carried rail and auto traffic on the same deck with the railroad on the southern side and autos on the northern side. Autos had to cross the tracks on both sides. In 1926, the approach on the Yolo side was realigned with a new subway 100 feet west of the bridge and an easy grade approach was made by sluicing sand fill base from the Sacramento River along with a blanket of clay along the sides to prevent erosion. This approach was paved over with 7" inch thick concrete making a roadway with three lanes of 10' each. The center drainage lane was 9" thick.

____________________________________________________________________________________________

In March 1926 construction was completed on the new approach and subway to the "M" street bridge. The new roadway had curbs and gutters and a center drain to help prevent erosion and was a little over half a mile in length. As mentioned in the paragraph above this new roadway had three 10' wide concrete lanes with a depressed center lane containing two drains: one at half the length down the grade and the other at the bottom. Wooden guardrail was added from the bridge to the base of the grade. A new subway under the Sacramento Northern Railway at the western end of the new section replaced a narrow subway with a sharp 45-degree curve that was not able to accomodate trucks with high vertical clearances and long beds. The new subway had a gentle banked curve with three 10' lanes; not the two narrow lanes under the old subway. It also had space for a pedestrian walkway with pipe railing for added safety. It was necessary to go to court at the Yolo County Superior Court for eminent domain proceedings to secure an easement over 3.03 acres of land. The owners of the property were asking $91,700 for the value of the land and for damages. After hearing the case the judge ruled in favor of the state and ordered $5,030 to be paid to the owners for the right of way.

In March 1926, construction was completed on the approach and new subway to the "M" street bridge, the new roadway would have curbs and gutters and a center drain to help prevent erosion, this new section .55 of a mile in lenght. As mentioned in the paragraph above this new section would have three 10' wide lanes of concrete with a depressed center lane with two drains, one at  half the lenght down the grade and the other at the bottom for extra drainage. Along with wooden guardrail from the bridge to the base of the grade, at the western end of the new section a new subway under the Sacramento Northern Railway replaced a narrow subway with a sharp 45 degree curve which was not able to handle trucks with high verticle clearance and long beds, the new subway would have a gentle banked curve plus three 10' lanes not two lanes unlike the old subway ,  and space for a pedestrain walkway with pipe railing for extra added safety. In securing the right of way for the approach it was necessary to go to court over eminent domain proceedings in the Yolo County Superior Court to secure an easement over 3.03 acres. The owners were asking $91,700 for the value of the right of way and damages. After hearing the case the judge ruled for the state for $5,030 to be paid to the owners for the right of way.

M Street & Railroad Overpass 1927/1999

In the photo's above you can see how the slucing sand fill from the bottom of the Sacramento River was done

Photo Courtesy of

Map courtesy of

On October 18, 1933 a hearing was held before a representative of the War Department on the regarding the need for a new bridge over the Sacramento River at the M Street crossing. The likelihood of war made a new crossing imperative. A new crossing had to be considered because the Victory/Lincoln Highway (US40-99W) was a major west-east route and the old M Street Bridge was most inadequate for handling the flow of traffic under normal conditions. A total of *$233,000 dollars was allotted by Sacramento County, along with State funding of *$433,000 for construction of the new bridge. On December 22, 1933 a conference was held by State, County, & Sacramento Northern Electric Railroad to reach an agreement on the cost*, alignment, construction of a temporary railroad bridge, and design of the new bridge. The new bridge was planned to be 52' wide in order to accommodate four dedicated lanes for autos and with the center lane for the railroad with curbing between the rail and auto lanes to avoid accidents. Pedestrian sidewalks were planned to be on each side of the bridge. In the cross-section image below one can see how the lanes were planned to be used on the Tower Bridge

Diagram courtesy of

In the sketch below of the Tower Bridge you can see that the towers are slightly different from the ones built.

Sketch courtesy of

Interesting Facts on the Tower Bridge

• Final Construction Cost  *$994,000

• Electrical Installation Cost $100,000

• Total Lenght 737'

• Roadway width 52'

• Center lift span is 209' long

• Weight of Center Span, Cables, & Counterweights 5,000,000 lbs

• Lift span height above high water 100'

• Tower Height 160' tall

• Two Towers rest on two concrete cylindars built to a depth of 50 feet below water

• More than 5,000 cubic yards of concrete was used

• 6,500,000 pounds of steel was use in the frame work

• Excavation for the bridge and roadway 23,000 cubic yards of soil

Photo Courtesy of

Tower Bridge Dedication Ceremonies

Opening ceremonies to dedicate the Tower Bridge was held at 2pm on the afternoon of Sunday December 15, 1935. Governor Frank Merriam offically opening the bridge first to pedestrain traffic inviting all check out the new bridge. In the photo above taken at the dediction ceremonies notice the lift span is half way up, when the span was lowered all the way down the Governor was the first drive over the bridge.  Governor Merriam called the Tower Bridge "Unexcelled in its architectural and engineering beauty & constituting an impressive western gateway to the Capitol City" The Tower Bridge was the first vertical lift bridge on the California Highway System replacing the 25 year old M Street steal swing span. The ceremonies started with a flag raising followed with speaches by the Governor, Mayor of Sacramento, President of the Chamber of Commerence, Chairman of the Board of Supervisors of Yolo & Sacramento Counties, George G. Pollock general contractor of the Tower Bridge, & Director of Public Works Earl Lee Kelly. Then the Governor formally opened the span by leading a parade across the bridge and breaking a ribbon with the radiator of his offical car. When this happen a siren in the center span tower announced the opening of the bridge along with the siren, factory whistles, auto horns, and river craft joined in the chorus. after this 1000 homing pigeons bearing tidings of the occasion to all sections of California were released.

Cooperative Project

       The Tower Bridge was constructed by the State Department of Public Works in coorperation with the city & county of Sacramento & Yolo, and the Federal Government. The new span will represent a monument to engineering skill for many years to come. It will also relieve traffic problems which have occured with the old span. When construction began in July 1934 first problem which need to be solved  was detouring traffic around the construction site this was accomplished by spending $12,000 in widening certain parts of the I street bridge & constructing a temporary Railroad bridge 25 feet north of the old span, this bridge was constructed entirely of timbers except for four steel girder spans. Economizing to utmost, the engineers made the grade of the detour bridge as low as possible, placing the steel girders just above normal high water level. Exceptional rains in the winter of 1934 raised the Sacramento River to a point where, for a few days, driftwood endangered the temporary bridge, but this danger passed and there was no delays to the railroad.

The preceding  page is the property of the Highwayman any use of this page without the permission of the Highwayman is prohibited

If you have any comments, suggestions or updated information on the Bridges over the Sacramento River. Please send them to me at hywaymn@pacbell.net

Last updated September 15, 1999

Continue East to the Downtown Sacramento Routes

Continue West on the West Sacramento Freeway

Return to Main Page