The Foresthill Bridge, also referred to as the Auburn-Foresthill Bridge or the Auburn Bridge, is a road bridge crossing over the North Fork American River in

Placer County Placer County ( ; Spanish for "sand deposit"), officially the County of Placer, is a county in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 404,739. The county seat is Auburn. Placer County is included in the G ...

and the

Sierra Nevada The Sierra Nevada () is a mountain range in the Western United States, between the Central Valley of California and the Great Basin. The vast majority of the range lies in the state of California, although the Carson Range spur lies primar ...

foothills, in eastern California. It is the highest bridge by deck height in

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

, the fourth highest in the United States, and among the seventy highest in the world at above the river. Foresthill Bridge 5-31-19

History

Originally constructed to replace a river-level crossing of the American River that would have been flooded by the reservoir that would have been created by the unbuilt

Auburn Dam Auburn Dam was a proposed concrete arch dam on the North Fork of the American River east of the town of Auburn, California, in the United States, on the border of Placer and El Dorado Counties. Slated to be completed in the 1970s by the U.S. Bur ...

, the deck of the steel

cantilever bridge A cantilever bridge is a bridge built using structures that project horizontally into space, supported on only one end (called cantilevers). For small footbridges, the cantilevers may be simple beams; however, large cantilever bridges designed ...

stands above the river. It was fabricated in 1971 by

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in Japan, built by Willamette Western Contractors, and opened in 1973. The bridge spans the North Fork of the American River in Placer County between the city of Auburn and the town of

Foresthill Foresthill is a census-designated place (CDP) in Placer County, California, United States. It is part of the Sacramento– Arden-Arcade– Roseville Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 1,483 at the 2010 census, down from 1,791 ...

in the Sierra Nevada foothills. Pedestrians can walk the length of the bridge in both directions. There was anti-Auburn Dam graffiti, showing protest of the planned dam, on the bridge's underside. A

seismic retrofit Seismic retrofitting is the modification of existing structures to make them more resistant to seismic activity, ground motion, or soil failure due to earthquakes. With better understanding of seismic demand on structures and with our recent exp ...

project began in January 2011 and was completed in 2015, with an estimated cost of $74.4 million. The original bridge cost less than $13 million.

In media

The bridge can be seen in the beginning of the 2002 film ''

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'' in which

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's character Xander Cage is seen driving a stolen red

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off it, then jumping from the car mid-flight and

parachuting Parachuting, including also skydiving, is a method of transiting from a high point in the Atmosphere of Earth, atmosphere to the surface of Earth with the aid of gravity, involving the control of speed during the descent using a parachut ...

to his accomplices at the bottom of the American River Canyon. It also appears in a

montage Montage may refer to: Arts and entertainment Filmmaking and films * Montage (filmmaking), a technique in film editing * ''Montage'' (2013 film), a South Korean film Music * Montage (music), or sound collage * ''Montage'' (Block B EP), 201 ...

sequence toward the end of the

romantic comedy Romantic comedy (also known as romcom or rom-com) is a subgenre of comedy and slice of life fiction, focusing on lighthearted, humorous plot lines centered on romantic ideas, such as how true love is able to surmount most obstacles. In a typic ...

The Ugly Truth ''The Ugly Truth'' is a 2009 American romantic comedy film directed by Robert Luketic, written by Nicole Eastman, Karen McCullah Lutz and Kirsten Smith, and starring Katherine Heigl and Gerard Butler. The film was released in North America on ...

'', and has been utilized in multiple exercise equipment advertisements.

Suicides

Due to its height, the bridge is a noteworthy

suicide Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Mental disorders (including depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, personality disorders, anxiety disorders), physical disorders (such as chronic fatigue syndrome), and ...

site. As of mid-2021, there have been 94 suicides since the bridge's construction. As part of the bridge's 2011-2015 renovations, a 6½ foot tall pedestrian barrier was installed to prevent further attempts.

2021 Fire

The Bridge Fire, which burned under the Foresthill Bridge, started on September 5th and burned for a total of 9 days. 411 acres were burned with CAL-FIRE reporting one injury.

References

External links