Interstate 5 North - Shasta Lake to Dunsmuir

Interstate 5

Between the Pit River Bridge and the Siskiyou County line south of Dunsmuir, Interstate 5 doubles as the Stone Turnpike Memorial Freeway. Originally built in 1860, then rebuilt in 1861, the Stone family commissioned a toll road that ran 44 miles along the Sacramento River Valley between the Pitt River Ferry and Upper Soda Springs near Dunsmuir. The route was established as a more direct road by the 1870s for mail and stage drivers, and by the 1880s, the Central Pacific railroad followed closely to the route, using some of the old roadbed. The Pacific Highway (U.S. 99) eventually overlaid the toll road, and during the 1960s, was rebuilt as I-5.1

Views along Interstate 5 through northern Shasta County, including the Dog Creek Bridge crossing, Slate Creek Road (Exit 710), and the abandoned section of freeway between Pollard Flat and Fisher. 05/25/08

Near the community of Lakehead, Interstate 5 crosses the Sacramento River on the Antlers Bridge. Originally built in 1941 as a steel truss bridge for U.S. 99, the span was rehabilitated by 1967 to incorporate I-5 traffic. In 2009, work began on replacing the aging span with a cast-in-place, segmental concrete box-girder bridge.2 Initially with a 2014 completion date, the new 1,942 foot long span was completed September 2016, at a cost of $125 million.3 Part of the construction included realigning the southern approach to the bridge for increased safety. Demolition began January 2017 on the old span, taking two attempts to bring down the steel truss due to weather.4

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References:

  1. "Stone Turnpike Memorial Freeway", The Historical Marker Database (hmdb.org), retrieved February 11, 2023.
  2. "I-5 Antlers Bridge Replacement - Shasta County, California", American Segmental Bridge Institute (asbi-assoc.org), retrieved February 11, 2023.
  3. "Caltrans celebrates completion of Antlers Bridge", Record Searchlight (redding.com) (newspaper), retrieved, February 11, 2023.
  4. "Most of old Antlers Bridge falls in demolition", Record Searchlight (redding.com) (newspaper), retrieved, February 11, 2023.
  5. I-5 - Dog Creek Bridge (bridgehunter.com), retrieved February 11, 2023.
  6. Mount Shasta (usgs.gov), retrieved February 11, 2023.

Photo Credits:

Page Updated Saturday February 11, 2023.