THE BACK STORY
The Tower Bridge cost nearly $ 1 million to build in the mid-1930s . It was painted gold in 2002 . SHUTTERSTOCK PHOTO
Landmark ’ s Ups and Downs
Sacramento ’ s iconic Tower Bridge spans a river — and generations
BY Ed Goldman
Cynthia Larsen is a litigation attorney who ’ s been with the Orrick law firm since 1986 . Its offices at 400 Capitol Mall overlook the Tower Bridge , whose 738-foot span across the Sacramento River connects Sacramento to West Sacramento . Larsen says when the bridge ’ s color changed from a tired ocher to its vibrant gold in 2002 , “ I loved it . It went from being something I took for granted to something I enjoyed looking at every day . So enchanting .”
Bruce Monighan , urban design manager for the City of Sacramento , remembers his first sight of the Tower Bridge when he ’ d visit here from the Bay Area in the summer as a kid ( he ’ s now in his early 70s ). “ After hours of traveling and countless times of asking ‘ Are we there yet ?’ we ’ d spot the Tower Bridge sticking up … in the flat landscape . This was before we had a lot of tall buildings in the city , and the view of the then-silver bridge meant we were
112 comstocksmag . com | May 2021 there finally . As we looped into the bridge entry , we could spy the Capitol across the river , and that was the moment we knew we were in the state capital ,” he says . “ It ’ s crazy , but almost 60 years later , I still get that throwback moment when I cross that bridge .”
Maintaining this local landmark , which opened in 1935 , is the responsibility of the California Department of Transportation . Caltrans ’ Erol Kaslan says the Tower Bridge ( officially California State Highway 275 ) is “ our shortest state highway , from one side of the river to the other , not even 740 feet .” That may be shorter than Kaslan ’ s official title : chief of structure investigations , north , for the Office of Structure Maintenance and Investigations in the Caltrans Division of Maintenance .
Given the public squawks when Caltrans painted the bridge its current color in 2002 — even though
Tower Bridge by the Numbers
160 : Height in feet of the two vertical towers
209 : Length in feet of lift 738 : Length in feet 186 : Distance between lift towers 500 : Weight in tons of lift span 16,500 : Daily trips ( 2019 ) $ 994,000 : Construction cost
Through the Years
1934-35 : Years built 1962 : Last train crossed the bridge 1963 : Railroad tracks were removed
1976 : Repainted in an ocher color to match the Capitol ’ s copper dome
1982 : Added to the National Register of Historic Places
2002 : Repainted gold
SOURCES : CALIFORNIA DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC WORKS , U . S . DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR , ONLINE ARCHIVE OF CALIFOR- NIA AND CALIFORNIA DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION