02 Dec, 2009
News Alert: Highest Bridge in California Could Get Amgen Bike Race, Facelift
Posted by: Beach Reporter In: california| events
Forest Hill Bridge, the highest bridge in California, which spans the North Fork of the American River between Auburn and Forest Hill, is the center of a lot of attention these days. Not only was the trailer for the 2009 Movie “The Ugly Truth” filmed there but officials of the Amgen Tour of California are reportedly considering it for use by the World’s top cyclists as part of the event’s first leg between Nevada City and Sacramento.
On top of that, the 730-foot high, 2,428-foot long spectacular Forest Hill Bridge may also receive a retrofit, including as much as 2.2 million pounds of steel and a paint job, as Placer County officials look at how to get federal and state transportation funds to help with the seismic upgrade, which might begin as early at the Summer of 2010.
Offering some of the most sensational scenery in California, the bridge and its neighboring hills might add some additional pizzazz–just think of a helicopter shot of racing multi-colored cyclists stretching from one end to the other atop the 70 story height, 1/2 mile span. This is the same span featured in the 2002 action thriller, “xXx,” which dramatically showed Vin Diesel’s character driving a stolen red Corvette off the bridge, before he parachuted to his pals below in Auburn Ravine.
The bridge, reportedly the 3rd highest in the entire U.S. and the 9th highest in the World, was amazingly constructed for $13 million by the Bureau of Reclamation. It opened on Labor Day in 1973. It looks like the popular 36-year-old is about to not only get a facelift but international fame. If Amgen selects it, Hollywood won’t be far behind.
Highest Bridges in the World
- Royal Gorge Bridge 46 m 321 m (1053 ft) Suspension Built in 1929 in Colorado Over river and railway
- Millau Viaduct 343 m 270 m (890 ft) Cable-stayed 2004 France Motorway
- New River Gorge Bridge 267 m (876 ft) Steel arch 1977 West Virginia Expressway
- Foresthill Bridge 223 m (730 ft) Steel cantilever 1973 California Road