Signs of progress
AT&T works to relocate utility lines for Rawhide bridge replacement
Contractors for AT&T are working to relocate some of the company’s utility lines in preparation of a long-awaited replacement of the one-lane Rawhide Road bridge over Woods Creek in Jamestown.
The work is part of “significant” utility relocations that must take place before the county is able to build a new three-lane bridge roughly 250 feet upstream of the current one, according to Blossom Scott-heim, assistant director of the county Public Works Department.
“We’re very excited,” Scottheim said of the latest development in the project.
Utility relocations have been cited for delays in the bridge project’s progress for several years now.
The current work being done by AT&T at Rawhide and Pulpit Rock roads is the start of “extensive relocations” the company must do both in the county rightof-way and Caltrans right-of-way, Scott-heim said.
Pacific Gas and Electric Co. has already done some of its relocations and is working with the county to complete the rest, Scott-heim said. Tuolumne Utilities District and Jamestown Sanitary District also have minor relocations that are being coordinated with the bridge project.
In addition to the utility relocations, there’s still some cultural resources work and regulatory permitting that must be completed prior to breaking ground.
Scott-heim said the county is now hoping to go out to bids for construction of the bridge replacement project next year, though that will depend on the availability of funding through the Federal Highway Bridge Program.
“We’re kind of at the mercy of their funding,” she said.
Planning for the project began in 1999 before the county
applied for funding from the Federal Highway Bridge Program, which is paying for most of the nearly $12 million in total estimated costs.
More than $2 million has already been spent over the years to complete studies required before construction can begin.
The end result will be a realignment of Rawhide Road so it meets up with the intersection of Highway 108 and Main Street in Jamestown, where a new light will be installed. It’s about a half mile of new roadway. The traffic light at Rawhide and Highway 108 will be removed.
Scott-heim said the new bridge will include a dedicated left-turn lane, a straight/right-turn lane southbound toward Main Street, and one through lane northbound.
The plan is for the current one-lane bridge, which was built in 1909 and said to be the oldest multiple-span reinforced concrete arch bridge in the southern Mother Lode area, to remain in place as a walking path.