I don’t think these photos quite capture the scale of this mammoth construction project began in 2009, and located about 20 miles north of Redding. I don’t think I’ve ever come across a construction project this big before, hence why I’ve just had to take a photo of it. I was just amazed by the enormity of it, and I think it’s fair to say that I wouldn’t want to be a construction worker at this moment in time. Imagine the stress and the constant pressure they must be under to get it done? I just hope that their construction manager has the relevant qualifications to pull it off because it must be a very tough job. In fact, I may decide to have a look at sites like Raken just to see if I could potentially become a construction manager if I wanted to. Having the relevant skills would be important, but knowing how to manage a team and a project like this is even more essential, especially if you don’t want it dragging on for this amount of time.
Anyway, I just thought you’d like to see what I saw the other day, as I don’t think my eyes can still fathom it. Also, my shots are blurry since I was just waving my camera around while riding up Interstate 5. You can’t really see it very well while whizzing by at speed, so I thought I’d try to capture it on camera.
Below, you can see a worker in orange on a lift at lower right, for scale. These folks are working a hundred feet (a total guess) in the air. Click to slightly enlarge.
And then these two completely separate structures have to perfectly meet in the air. Impressive work!
Below, you can see the giant fish bas-relief in concrete. I suppose it will be only visible from the lake.
Here’s a better look at the artwork, an image taken from the Cal Trans Antlers Bridge Replacement Project website where you can get a much better view of the work.
The Cal Trans website also had this interesting historical image of the original Antlers bridge construction from 1941.
The sparse vegetation seen in historical photos is always striking to me. The Northstate was much more fire-safe back in the day.
