Merced River, Yosemite Valley, Yosemite National Park, CA, 1/27/2010
The western end of Yosemite Valley offers peaceful hikes through the forest and along the Merced River. In the winter, this area is especially uncrowded. I've always loved the Pohono Bridge with its beautiful stone closed-spandrel arch construction. Here it is a couple of mornings after a heavy snowfall. The bridge was constructed in 1928, and replaced a previous bridge that had been there for 20 years. It is built of reinforced concrete veneered with native granite quarried from the valley. The bottom of the bridge displays an arch of finely cut keystones. The bridge spans about 80 feet across the river and is almost 132 feet in total length. Its deck is roughly 27 feet wide. The bridge was designed by the senior highway bridge engineer of the U. S. Bureau of Public Roads in collaboration with the Landscape Division of the Park Service to accommodate all classes of traffic and harmonize with its natural surroundings. It had also been endorsed by the National Commission of Fine Arts.
