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Main Avenue Bridge at NEMDC

Dokken Engineering provided preliminary engineering, PS&E, and design support during construction for the replacement of the Main Avenue Bridge over the Natomas East Main Drain Canal (NEMDC) and the Union Pacific Railroad tracks for the City of Sacramento. The project replaced the existing 15 span timber fire-damaged bridge over the NEMDC and widened Main Avenue from two lanes to four lanes. The replacement structure is 813 feet long and 80 feet wide. Staged construction was used to keep the bridge in service during construction.

The elevated bridge design, together with a 4-lane cross-section, significantly improves traffic flow and level of service along Main Avenue. The new structure is well above the 100 year flows. Hydrology conditions improved with the removal of wooden piles from the channel and replacing them with substantially fewer columns.

Accelerated Schedule. In response to the Sacramento Area Council of Governments’ (SACOG) January 8, 2004 request to accelerate the completion of the Main Avenue Bridge replacement project by more than two years, the City of Sacramento and Dokken Engineering expedited the delivery of the project. SACOG needed the new four lane bridge open to traffic by November 2005 or the region would lose hundreds of millions of dollars in Federal funding. The project delivery team completed the roadway and bridge design, environmental clearance (both NEPA and CEQA), permitting, right of way appraisal and acquisition of 14 properties, the creation and approval of four agreements with the Railroad, and obtained the construction funding in an unprecedented 8 MONTH period, and enabled SACOG to make its credible case to the FHWA that the project will be built and opened to 4 lanes of traffic by November 23, 2005.