Del Dios Gorge Trail Construction Photos
Construction in Del Dios Highway Road right of way
The pictures here show the difficult terrain in the gorge. A steel truss pre-fab bridge that is 180 feet long and 10 feet wide was needed to cross the river to join with an existing SDGE maintenance road, which serves as a portion of the trail. The contract for the steel truss bridge installation was awarded to R.J. Bullard Construction. The bridge was manufactured by Big R Manufacturing in Greeley, Colorado. Construction began in February 2007.
Above, engineer Dennis Landaal of Kimley-Horn & Associates, studies the terrain to develop the best trail alignment.
The picture below shows Del Dios Highway on the right, and in the center distance, the dirt SDGE road that the trail will connect to following installation of the bridge.
FEBRUARY/MARCH 2007
Above, construction begins on north abutment of bridge.
Water in excavation
Excavation begins on south abutment.
Picture above shows Del Dios Highway in distance. It also shows the access
road that the contractor had to build to gain access to the site from
Del Dios Highway.
John Revels, Project Resident Engineer
Below, framing the north abutment.
Below, pouring the north abutment.
APRIL/MAY 2007
Below, the bridge arrives in San Diego in three pieces on three trailers.
Delivery and off-loading at the project site causes some delay on Del Dios Hwy (below.)
Above, when all three pieces were in place, the bridge was ready to assemble.
Below, the big day was hoisting the assembled bridge into position. The job took three cranes, two on the north side, and one on the south.
The picture below shows the north abutment on the left, with the bridge on the right and the crane in the middle. The challenge was to move the bridge far enough across the river so that the north end of it could swing in front of the crane and be mounted on the abutment. This required a slow but steady process (the pictures below indicate the incremental moves), and numerous stops to re-rig and/or move the cranes.
Below, Rob Bullard, the contractor in charge of the operation
Below, finally the bridge is in place.
JUNE 2007
The next steps involved backfilling the abutment and building the trail up to meet the elevation of the north abutment of the bridge.
RANGER CONSTRUCTION - WEST OF BRIDGE
BELOW, RIVER PARK RANGERS AND VOLUNTEERS WORK ON REPAIRING EROSION PROBLEMS IN THE SECTION OF TRAIL BETWEEN THE SANTA FE VALLEY TRAIL (CROSBY ESTATES) ON THE WEST AND THE DEL DIOS GORGE BRIDGE BEING CONSTRUCTED ON THE EAST. To read more about the work that the San Dieguito River Park Rangers and volunteer "Dust-Devils" were doing on the trail, click here. (This is a pdf file)
Above: volunteer work crews clear and grub
CONSTRUCTION IN DEL DIOS HIGHWAY ROAD RIGHT OF WAY
Above - Before
Below - After
This work was done by New Century Construction. Fencing is being installed by Bellfree Contractors. Project is expected to be completed in April 2009.
Project Location
In San Diego County, just south of Del Dios Highway, downstream of Lake Hodges Dam.
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