Foresthill Bridge engineer captures crowd as speaker

Correction: This story was edited at 3:21 p.m. March 16 to show Anderson graduated from Fresno State in 1958. Don Anderson, resident engineer on the Foresthill Bridge project, was a recent speaker at the Newcastle United Methodist Church. A large array of his personal photos, coupled with his detailed description of the construction, kept a standing-room only crowd of more than 100 glued to his every word. Anderson, a 1958 graduate of Fresno State, was a spirited speaker who described the project from inception to completion. When Anderson described the pier footings as 25 feet-deep concrete footings that were dug into the canyon's bedrock, you heard gasps from the audience. Also of great interest to the crowd was Anderson's description of the steel components. Designed stateside, the actual steel pieces were fabricated in Japan and shipped across the Pacific all the way to Auburn. The steel for the roadway was begun from the Auburn and Foresthill sides of the canyon at the same time. When the steel finally met in mid-canyon, the future roadway was only inches off perfect center. That tiny difference was easily accommodated by connecting the two using a steel pin that was four feet long and 18 inches in diameter. That pin allowed the bridge connection to flex during heating and cooling. What an incredible combination of design, fabrication and construction. Completed six months ahead of schedule in 1973, the bridge was only two lanes wide. The County of Placer later improved the bridge to its current four lanes.