California Highway 140 West Bridge - El Portal, CA
Posted by: 
TheBeanTeam
N 37° 39.590 W 119° 54.036
11S E 244135 N 4172032
A pair of Baily Bridges over the Merced River bypassing the Ferguson Ridge rockslide. This waymark is for the west bridge.
Waymark Code: WM54XN
Location: California, United States
Date Posted: 11/11/2008
Views: 46
This waymark is for the west Bailey Bridge at the
Ferguson Rock Slide. The rockslide in 2006 spurred the installation of Baily Bridges in two locations over the Merced River east of Mariposa.
Video of crossing the Bailey Bridges at the Ferguson Rock Slide.
Initially the bridges only allowed for traffic under the length of 28 feet to cross but a realignment and installation of longer bridges in May of 2008 has opened the roadway to traffic up to 45 feet in length. In June California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger officiated at a ribbon cutting to dedicate the longer bridges at the location. Source
Five solutions have been proposed for the rockslide. Source
Highway 140 repair plans (May 27, 2007)
In a follow-up to the Dec 22 story (below), CalTrans has announced alternatives for the Hwy 140 landslide
mess. Here’s a summary. One will be chosen by 2008 with the solution in place by 2012.
· $378M – a mile-long tunnel
· $ 77M – a short tunnel
· $ 71M – Removing the debris pile and building a tunnel thru the sensitive area
· $ 53M – Cutting a road on other side of Merced
· $ 35M – Elevating the road above the slide area
The most comprehensive site covering the slide can be found here. This site includes an entry on Baily Bridges dated July 1, 2006.