Fruitvale Bridge

Fruitvale Bridge
Fruitvale Avenue vertical-lift railroad bridge. The Fruitvale Avenue Miller-Sweeney bridge is directly behind the raised span of the railroad bridge.
Coordinates	37°46′8″N 122°13′49″W / 37.76889°N 122.23028°W / 37.76889; -122.23028Coordinates: 37°46′8″N 122°13′49″W / 37.76889°N 122.23028°W / 37.76889; -122.23028
Carries	railroad
Crosses	Oakland Estuary
Locale	San Francisco Bay Area
Characteristics
Design	Vertical-lift bridge
Material	steel
Height	175 ft (53 m)
Clearance below	65 ft (20 m) (raised)
History
Closed	2000
Fruitvale Bridge Location in Oakland, California Show map of Oakland, California Fruitvale Bridge Location in Oakland, California Show map of San Francisco Bay Area Fruitvale Bridge Location in Oakland, California Show map of California

Fruitvale Avenue Bridge
Partially raised bascule on road bridge, immediately behind rail bridge.
Carries	cars and trucks on Fruitvale (Oakland) and Tilden Avenues (Alameda)
Official name	Miller-Sweeney Bridge
Characteristics
Design	Single leaf bascule bridge
Material	steel, concrete
Total length	215 ft (66 m)
Width	52 ft (16 m) roadway 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) sidewalks
Clearance below	15 ft (4.6 m) (high tide) 21 ft (6.4 m) (low tide)
No. of lanes	4
History
Designer	McCreary-Koretsky International
Constructed by	Hensel Phelps
Fabrication by	Kaiser Steel
Statistics
Daily traffic	15,300

The Fruitvale Bridge is a vertical-lift railroad moveable bridge that crosses the Oakland Estuary. There is a road bridge, commonly called the Fruitvale Avenue Bridge, immediately adjacent to the rail bridge. Both bridges link the cities of Oakland and Alameda.

The rail bridge is immediately west of the Miller-Sweeney road bridge which connects Fruitvale Avenue in Oakland with Tilden Way in Alameda. It has been out of service since 2000.

This lift bridge was constructed in 1951 to replace an earlier bridge that originally served the SP interurban trains from San Francisco (SP's Interurban Electric Railway discontinued service in 1941). From 1951 until September 11, 1996, the Southern Pacific Railroad operated freight service across the bridge to serve shippers in Alameda and to connect with the Alameda Belt Line railroad. After SP was acquired by Union Pacific on September 11, 1996, UP provided infrequent service to Alameda until service was discontinued in 2000.

The right-of-way still exists through the East Bay, however, the tracks on both sides of the bridge have been severed and the span remains raised at 65 feet above water level, except when operated for maintenance and testing. Although unused, tracks still exist in Alameda on Blanding Ave. and Clement St. The bridge is owned by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and is operated by the County of Alameda. The Miller-Sweeney bridge tender, a county employee, operates the railroad bridge from controls in the Miller-Sweeney control house. The last train across the bridge ran in 2000.

The road bridge is officially named the Miller-Sweeney Bridge at Fruitvale Avenue. It has no overhead steel structure like the other road bridges between Alameda and Oakland (the High Street Bridge and the Park Street Bridge) so tall vehicles should use the Miller-Sweeney Bridge. Miller-Sweeney opens approximately 1,600 times per year to accommodate marine traffic.