Two construction workers stand on a platform beside the lift cables of the Tower Bridge in Sacramento in 2018. Caltrans is conducting a $3 million project that includes electrical work and component replacements, the first major work on the bridge since crews replaced its aging lift cables eight years ago.
Autumn Payne
Sacramento Bee file
Caltrans has begun partial daytime closures for electrical work and component replacements on the 90-year-old Tower Bridge over the Sacramento River.
The bridge remains open to traffic but operated under one-way traffic control from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. through November, according to Caltrans.
The agency, which maintains the vertical-lift bridge, said the $3 million emergency project aims to build scaffolding and rigging lines, remove old parts and install new electrical lines.
The bridge work is scheduled to not interfere with River Cats and Athletics games at Sutter Health Park in West Sacramento. The project will halt one hour prior to and one hour after games.
The work marks the first major project on the bridge since 2018, when Caltrans replaced aging lift cables after inspectors found they had stretched about 14 inches over time.
At the time, officials said the cables — some nearly 2 inches thick — had never been replaced since the bridge opened in December 1935, prompting a $6 million upgrade that also included electrical and system improvements.
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Nicole Buss is The Sacramento Bee’s Roseville/Placer County watchdog reporter. She previously covered Placer County at Gold Country Media. Buss grew up in Lincoln and is a graduate of Sierra College and Arizona State University.