Amador County – Early this morning, Thursday June 11th, the Amador Water Agency and contractors were scheduled to haul an 80-foot long steel footbridge into town and lower it into place across the namesake creek in Sutter Creek with a giant crane. AWA requested that the public avoid the creekside construction areas, for safety and to minimize traffic. AWA Construction Manager Ken Hunt said the steel bridge, which will carry foot traffic and also the Plymouth Pipeline across Sutter Creek, was to be delivered sometime Wednesday. It will be hauled toward downtown Sutter Creek and anchored into place today. Engineering and Planning Manager Gene Mancebo said the bridge was so long and the destination roadway so narrow that the crane would be used to carry it around the corner of Main and Church Streets, then place it across Sutter Creek, where it will join city parking lots off of Church and Eureka Streets. Mancebo originally thought the bridge would arrive in pieces and require assembly, but then he found out it would come in one, 8-foot wide, 80-foot long, complete unit, hence the need for the crane. Hunt said the installation of the bridge would take place between 9 and 10 a.m. today. Contractor Mountain Cascade Incorporated and AWA crew members will thread the bridge through town and anchor it in place over Sutter Creek, to connect the lot on Eureka Street, across from Susan’s Place Wine Bar & Eatery, with the lot behind Sutter Creek City Hall, the auditorium and the community center. The one-piece bridge was manufactured by Excel Bridge Manufacturing Company in Santa Fe Springs, in southeast Los Angeles County. It was to be parked on Old Highway 49 in Sutter Hill after delivery. Crews will begin moving it to downtown Sutter Creek beginning at 6 a.m. today and will set it in place on foundations already constructed by Mountain Cascade. For safety and to avoid unnecessary street congestion, the agency it requested that the public avoid the construction areas on both sides of the creek. The Sutter Creek Police Department will coordinate traffic control during construction. Work is expected to be finished by this afternoon, and the bridge will be open to foot traffic later this year. The 8-5-mile Plymouth potable water pipeline project began construction in March and is a month ahead of schedule, working this week along Bunker Hill Road, in the hills north of Amador City. Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.