Bye bye, bridge

The 81-year-old Pacific Electric Railway bridge that goes over Foothill Boulevard (aka Route 66) in Rancho Cucamonga, Calif., will be dismantled starting Sunday, reported the Contra Costa Times.

Two cranes will remove the bridge and place it on the north side of Foothill Boulevard, where workers will spend the next two weeks removing paint and dismantling the bridge. It will eventually be replaced by a longer, more modern one as part of a massive street widening project aimed to resuscitate an oft-ignored corner of the city. […]

Starting at 7 a.m. Saturday, Foothill Boulevard will be closed from San Bernardino Road to Baker Avenue for no more than 72 hours, Billings said. However, access to the three businesses east of San Bernardino Road on the west side of the bridge – a storage facility, RV shop and Sycamore Inn – will be provided.

All lanes will be opened by 7 a.m. Monday when motorists will drive through the skinny portion of Route 66 with nothing overhead. The bridge that carried the San Bernardino line of the Pacific Electric Railway in the 1920s and ’30s will be gone.

The rest of the story contains a lot of interesting history about the railway, which has been gone for decades but is needed now in the traffic-snarled Los Angeles region more than ever. The bridge is now used as a hiking and cycling trail.

The news about the bridge is a bit sad, but good news is shining through, too:

Only a couple of days remain to get a glimpse of the 81-year-old bridge before it’s torn apart. But when the entire project is complete, there will be a chance to see the historic bridge at the trailhead park on the north side of Foothill. A portion of the old bridge will be preserved as a decorative feature of the park.

The trailhead, just east of the bridge, will also preserve a portion of the original Route 66 pavement found north of Foothill and will also include equestrian facilities, restrooms, benches and a table.

In case you can’t get to Rancho Cucamonga to see the bridge in its current configuration, here’s a Google Street View image of it.

UPDATE: Here’s a photo gallery of the bridge’s removal over the weekend.

UPDATE2: Inland Valley Daily Bulletin columnist David Allen was there when the overpass was being dismantled on Sunday. And he passes along some news about the park where the bridge structure will be displayed:

That park sounds like a nice amenity. It will allow direct access to the trail, feature a timeline of city history and include a portion of the bridge.

A section of original Route 66 pavement has been uncovered, from an earlier alignment of the road, and that will be incorporated too.

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