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 and the Sierra Nevada foothills, in eastern California. It is the highest bridge by deck height in California, and the fourth highest in the United States at 730 feet (220 m) above the river.
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History
Originally constructed to accommodate the unbuilt Auburn Dam, the deck of the steel deck arch bridge stands 730 feet (220 m) above the river. It was fabricated in 1971 by Kawasaki Heavy Industries 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 in the Sierra Nevada foothills. Pedestrians can walk the length of the bridge in both directions. There is anti-Auburn Dam graffiti, showing protest of the planned dam, on the bridge's underside.
A seismic retrofit 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 XXX in which Vin Diesel's character Xander Cage is seen driving a stolen red Chevrolet Corvette off of it, then jumping from the car mid-flight and parachuting to his accomplices at the bottom of the American River Canyon.
It also appears in a montage sequence toward the end of the romantic comedy The Ugly Truth, and has been utilized in multiple exercise equipment advertisements.
Suicides
Due to its height, the bridge is a noteworthy suicide site. As of the middle of 2016, there have been 76 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.
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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