Antioch Bridge

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Antioch Bridge
Carries	2 lanes of CA 160
Crosses	San Joaquin River
Locale	Antioch, California and Sacramento County, California
Design	steel plate girder
Total length	9,504 feet (2,896.82 m)
Vertical clearance	135 feet (41.2 m)
Opening date	1978
Toll	$4.00 (northbound) (FasTrak)
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The Antioch Bridge (officially known as the Senator John A. Nejedly Bridge) crosses the San Joaquin River linking Antioch, California with Sacramento County, California. The bridge is signed as part of California State Route 160.

The current bridge was completed and opened to traffic in 1978. It measures 1.8 miles (2.9 km). It replaced the original structure that was built in 1926 by Aven Hanford and Oscar Klatt, who went on to build the original span of the Carquinez Bridge. The original lift span bridge was plagued with problems throughout its lifetime. Heavy traffic could cross it at no more than 15 miles per hour (25 km/h), and its narrow shipping canal led to collisions in 1958, 1963 and 1970.

The 1970 collision spurred efforts to build a replacement bridge. In that incident, the lift span was stuck in the raised position. The bridge tender would not leave the bridge and remained in the control house for three days. Local firemen eventually made their way to him and brought him out, and he quit his position on the spot.

Unlike the other toll bridges in California, the Antioch bridge has only one lane going in each direction.

The bridge was tolled when it first opened, but tolls were removed after the state bought the bridge in 1940. Tolls were reinstated with the construction of the new span.

The Antioch bridge toll plaza is located at the south end of the bridge. Tolls are only charged for northbound traffic. The toll plaza has three toll booths and an administration building located on the right side of the plaza. As with the other toll plazas in the San Francisco Bay Area, the toll booths are numbered starting from the side on which the administration building is located. Currently, booth #3 (i.e. the far left booth) is dedicated to FasTrak users; booths #1 and #2 accept toll payment by both cash and FasTrak.

[edit] References

Caltrans Facts - Bay Area, dot.ca.gov, retrieved on 2007-01-01.

[edit] External links

FasTrak - Antioch Bridge

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San Francisco Bay Area Toll Bridges
North-South direction
Golden Gate Bridge - Carquinez Bridge - Benicia-Martinez Bridge - Antioch Bridge
East-West direction
Richmond-San Rafael Bridge - Bay Bridge - San Mateo-Hayward Bridge - Dumbarton Bridge