Foresthill Bridge
Steel cantilever bridge over the North Fork American River near Auburn, California, USA.
At a glance
| Source | Author | Role | In one line |
|---|---|---|---|
| California’s Tallest Bridge Has Nothing Underneath | Wesley Crump | subject | California’s tallest bridge, built for a reservoir that never came. |
California’s Tallest Bridge Has Nothing Underneath — Wesley Crump (2025)
Source: Original · Readwise highlight
Foresthill Bridge soars across the valley of the North Fork of the American River just outside Auburn, California.
- Role: subject
- In the article: The bridge stands about 700 feet above the river and opened in 1973, though it carries only a few thousand vehicles a day. It was built early and high so it would clear the reservoir of the planned Auburn Dam; when the dam was abandoned the bridge stayed, later needing a seismic retrofit and inspection of its T-1 steel.
- Why it matters: The article’s subject: an overbuilt monument to the end of the era of big US public works.