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(530) 475-3495 - (800) 650-3495

225 Ditch Creek Rd | P.O. Box 71 | Hornbrook, CA 96044

COTTONWOOD BRIDGE PROJECT

Our BOD Vice President, Lynn Williamson, is the liaison for the proposed bridge over Cottonwood creek at the Cottonwood campground. Last Saturday he arranged a meeting with Larry Alexander of Resource Management and Mark Chaney from SHN consulting engineers to bring us up to date and provide a time table for design and construction. As a preliminary step, the Board of Directors had already selected and approved the concept of using an 80 ft. railroad flat car as the primary structure. Prior to the board selection, all proposals were reviewed by many people with a variety of ranch interests to insure that we would be able to meet the most needs for all activities and still remain within a reasonable budget plan. The bridge will be horse friendly in terms of railing height and surface. It's width of 102 inches will insure that we can utilize the bridge to move backhoes or other small maintenance equipment over to the ranch section referred to as the 3000 acres. Because this is a railcar platform, it is able to withstand a significant amount of weight and can, in an emergency, be used by smaller fire apparatus or medical vehicles. However, it cannot be technically classified as a vehicular crossing because different standards come into play which would significantly increase design and construction costs and, require a more complex approval and review process.
The 8o ft. railroad flat car will span the main creek channel. Concrete abutments will be located on both sides of the creek and will be used to support the flat car. Approaches to both sides of the bridge will consist of earth fill ramps providing a substantially level grade to grade crossing of approximately 170 ft.
Demolition of the old, existing, concrete structure should start in mid July of this year. Soon after, construction of the new bridge will start and is scheduled to be finished and ready for use by September 1st. Most of the demolition and construction will not interfere with use of the ranch for normal activities. However, because of safety issues and insurance requirements, that small section of the Cottonwood camp ground will be closed and totally off limits for any owner activities for the duration of the construction project.
Now for the really good news: Other than routine staff work for project review and the board approval process, this project is not funded by the R-Ranch. It is a grant from the fish and game department that was developed and processed by Larry Alexander of Resource Management. Larry has done some great work here and is looking forward to working with us again to explore and develop other projects that fall into grant criteria. Hats off also to Donnie Musser for his valuable participation in keeping this project moving along.

Steve Mikinka