Park Street Bridge

Park Street Bridge
Park Street Bridge
Crosses	Oakland Estuary
Locale	San Francisco Bay Area
Characteristics
Total length	372 feet
History
Opened	1893
Rebuilt	1935

Coordinates: 37°46′18.08″N 122°14′11.65″W / 37.7716889°N 122.2365694°W / 37.7716889; -122.2365694

The Park Street Bridge is a double-leaf bascule drawbridge spanning 372 feet of the Oakland Estuary in the San Francisco Bay Area. It links the cities of Oakland and Alameda. In a year, the bridge is opened approximately 1700 times and carries approximately 40,000 vehicles per work day.^[1] It was built when the Oakland Estuary was trenched, converting Alameda from a peninsula to an island.

The Park Street bridge is one of the four bridges that allow access to Alameda. It is considered the best route for bicycles to cross to Alameda as the small narrow walkway in the Posey Tube is difficult to navigate if there is another pedestrian or bicyclist also using it.^[2]

History

The original Park Street bridge was completed in 1893. The Park Street, High Street, and Fruitvale Avenue bridgess were built by the U.S. Government in exchange for permission and rights-of-way to dredge the channel between San Antonio Creek and San Leandro Bay. It had a wooden deck, a wrought iron thru truss swing span and wooden trestle approach spans. Riding the bridge as it opened to let water traffic through, as well as fishing off the bridge, were popular activities. It took ten years after the bridge's completion to dredge the channel.

The present bridge was designed by the County of Alameda Surveyors Office and constructed under the Federal WPA Program. It was opened in 1935 with a grand opening celebration that included a public wedding of a man from Oakland and woman from Alameda to symbolize the unity of the two cities with the building of the bridge.^[3]

References

External links

• Media related to Park Street bridge, Alameda, California at Wikimedia Commons