University Avenue Overpass – Berkeley CA

Description

The federal Bureau of Public Roads (BPR) funded construction of the railroad overpass on University Avenue in Berkeley – which today leads into the Interstate 80 freeway.  At the time, it was known as an “overhead”.  The overpass is still in use today.

The overpass is almost 1,000 feet long and carries four lanes of traffic, two in each direction.  It was jointly designed by state highway engineers, city engineering staff and engineering officials of the Southern Pacific Railroad.  The builders were Heafey-Moore Co. and Fredrickson & Watson Co., private contractors. 

An article in California Highway and Public Works gives these details:

“The overhead itself is of most modern design. The fifteen reinforced concrete slab spans and three steel girder spans total 922 feet. The central steel girder span over the railroad tracks is 118 feet, 6 inches in length, and the two adjoining steel girders are each 85 feet, 6 inches. These three steel spans are carried on reinforced concrete piers which rest on pile foundations. The fifteen concrete slab spans vary in length from 33 feet to 48 feet and are supported by concrete bents.

The roadway across the structure is designed for safety. Four traffic lanes, each 12 feet wide, are divided by a four-foot curbed median strip and provide ample facilities for both east-west-bound traffic. The cost of the overhead, its approaches, and the street work alongside and beneath the structure will amount to approximately $330,000. These funds were provided entirely from Federal apportionments to California for grade crossing elimination.

The only major direct cost to the city of Berkeley has been provision of additional right of way on each side of University Avenue. This was necessary to provide adequate width for satisfactory street construction for local traffic not using the overhead.”