From the old Thornton-Franklin Bridge, one can see as construction of the new bridge continues Wednesday. Workers prepare columns to support the roadway, which is scheduled to be completed late this year. (Jennifer M. Howell/News-Sentinel)

New Thornton-Franklin bridge may be completed later this year

THORNTON -- If bats, salmon and other critters didn't need special protection, the new bridge connecting Thornton with Sacramento County east of Interstate 5 would be close to completion.

So, fish gotta swim and bats gotta fly and the bridge gotta wait, at least for a while more.

But Gary Lewis, project superintendent with MCM Construction, said the new bridge won't be completed until later this year.

"We're ahead of schedule," Lewis said Wednesday. "It's actually a three-year job. We'll get done by October or November."

MCM was awarded a $9.2 million contract last April and began construction a short time later. Completing the project this year would cut the estimated project time in half, Lewis said.

The original Thornton-Franklin Boulevard bridge, crossing the Mokelumne River at the northern end of Thornton Road, almost 2 miles north of New Hope Road, was closed due to dry rot and foundation failure after the river flooded in early 1997.

Since the bridge was shut down, farmers who relied on the bridge to cross the river to get to their fields have had to drive their tractors several miles east to Christensen Road near Galt, west to Walnut Grove or along Interstate 5 to get from one side of the Mokelumne to the other.

The old bridge actually consisted of two structures -- a 1,700-foot-long redwood trestle built in 1937 and a 230-foot-long steel structure to the south built in 1950.

Veral Hansen loads concrete into a container with a shovel before pouring a column for the new Thornton-Franklin Bridge on Wednesday. (Jennifer M. Howell/News-Sentinel)

MCM Construction, a North Highlands firm, was awarded a $9.2 million contract last April by the Sacramento County Board of Supervisors to build the new bridge. The firm will be awarded $100,000 if the bridge is completed by Oct. 15, said Dave Franke, a design engineer for the Sacramento County Public Works Department.

Part of the project called for MCM to build redwood 1-inch crevices under the new bridge for a colony of 40,000 to 50,000 Mexican freetail bats that have nestled in crevices underneath the old wooden bridge for many years, Franke said.

"That's what they like," Lewis said of the bats. "They like those tight quarters -- dark and cool."

What's delaying the project this year, Lewis said, is that workers are prevented for doing any work that requires them to be in the river until the summer.

Until summer, workers will install concrete girders, install guardrails and pour asphalt on the bridge and on Thornton Road south to Benson Ferry Road, Lewis said.

An excavator moves earth Wednesday from under what will be the new Thornton-Franklin Bridge. (Jennifer M. Howell/News-Sentinel)

Protecting salmon and Delta smelt take priority over removing temporary materials to hold the new bridge up and replacing them with columns to permanently hold the bridge up, Lewis said.

The completed bridge will provide a short link from Thornton to the Cosumnes River Preserve on Franklin Boulevard.

Sacramento County is finalizing a deal with state to sell old redwood, Franke said. The county has already given some redwood for the McFarland Ranch living history museum west of Galt, he added.

The $9.2 million cost, plus $500,000 held in contingency in the event of extra costs, is financed by $7.7 million in federal funds, Franke said. Another $1.6 million is paid by Sacramento County, while San Joaquin County is adding another $400,000.