Photo By Sgt. Danielle Rodrigues | The High Water Bridge is set to re-open in June on Camp Roberts after being closed...... read more read more
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CAMP ROBERTS, Calif. - Getting to the training ranges at Camp Roberts on California's Central Coast is about to get a whole lot easier.
After being closed down six years ago, the High Water Bridge is set for a grand re-opening in late June.
The re-opening of the bridge will allow troops to reduce the roundtrip to the ranges by about an hour.
“It’s all about training and the opportunity to train,” said California National Guard Sgt. Maj. Joseph Menard, a project manager for the California Military Department’s Facilities and Engineering Department.
The High Water Bridge, which crosses the Nacimiento River, is the most direct route between the training ranges and the main post. But in 2009, the bridge was closed when it became too deteriorated to safely use.
The bridge’s substructure of columns and supports remained primarily intact, but the superstructure—the roadway that vehicles drive on—had severely decayed.
Since the bridge was closed, Soldiers traveling to the ranges have had to take a detour two miles down the river to the Low Water Bridge.
But that is set to change when the High Water Bridge renovation is completed. The renovation began on Dec. 8 and is now in its final stages.
The repair work is being done by Wysong Construction out of Atascadero, California. The total cost of the repairs amounts to $3.06 million.
In September 2014, Rep. Sam Farr, D-Carmel, secured $2.9 million to pay for the bulk of the project. The balance came from California National Guard operations and maintenance funding.
“Essentially, we put a whole new deck on the bridge leaving the vertical supports in place,” Menard said. “This means the ranges will now be more accessible thereby maximizing available training time. The bridge will also provide dismounted access to the ranges.”
In addition, a water pipe will be built over the bridge to carry potable water to the ranges.
“Currently, there’s just non-potable water over there,” Menard said.
A telecommunications fiber optic line will also run over the bridge which will allow for better range intercommunication and instant updating of weapons qualification scores.
Once complete, the bridge will be a one-way Class 40 bridge, meaning it can handle 40-ton vehicles. It will have a 6-foot wide separated walkway for dismounts. The larger Low Water Bridge is a Class 70 bridge that can handle even heavier loads.
California State Military Reserve Col. Walter Goodwater, a project manager for the Facilities and Engineering Department, said it takes 20 to 30 minutes to walk from the barracks to Range 5 using the High Water Bridge.
“The bridge will now give commanders the ability to road march to the ranges in a reasonable amount of time,” he said.
Goodwater added that the bridge also reduces the time for a rapid emergency response to the range complexes.
“The bridge was originally built in 1941,” Goodwater said. “It was the first bridge upstream on the Nacimiento.”
The bridge was originally built by the 1st Battalion, 19th Engineers from Fort Ord as part of the initial construction of Camp Roberts. Goodwater said it was built with a durable design—the same design used by Julius Caesar to cross the Rhine River nearly 2,000 years ago.
Goodwater credited the command team at Camp Roberts, Rep. Farr, California National Guard Adjutant General Maj. Gen. David Baldwin, the Facilities and Engineering Department and the Camp Roberts Environmental Department for making the re-opening possible.
“It was definitely a team effort,” he said.
| Date Taken: | 05.19.2015 |
| Date Posted: | 05.19.2015 13:46 |
| Story ID: | 163792 |
| Location: | CAMP ROBERTS, CA, US |
| Web Views: | 310 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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