Lake Hodges bike and pedestrian bridge

One of my May blog entries was about the Lake Hodges bike and pedestrian bridge that opened.

Lake Hodges is a long man-made reservoir that runs east-west, thereby breaking up the north-south commute for workers, especially those who walk or bike to work. Previously, bicyclists and pedestrians had to use the shoulder of the heavily traveled -- very, very heavily traveled - Interstate 15 bridge over Lake Hodges.

A couple of days ago, on the way to a Donor event at the San Diego Wild Animal Park, my marketing guru and I stopped by the Lake Hodges to take a casual stroll across it and see what all the hubbub was about. Unfortunately, the bridge truly is for bicyclists and pedestrians. There is nowhere close by for cars to park so that the curious like me could go enjoy the bridge for an hour or so.

Following is a view from where we parked. You can see Interstate 15 and the Lake Hodges bridge. If you look just above the cars down there -- which were parked illegally -- you can see two small black vertical marks which are the two pillars for the Lake Hodges bridge:

The following view is from just in front of the cars in the picture above. You can barely see the Lake Hodges bridge at the center right.

The following two pictures are of the eastern end of Lake Hodges. I never remembered the trees being in the water, but then I was reminded that we're in the midst of a significant drought, and lake levels throughout San Diego County are down 20-40 feet. Lake Hodges is a man-made reservoir, so this used to be just a valley with a stream flowing through it. The bridge in the right picture is Interstate 15.

I had my marketing guru/personal photographer in tow, who was lagging behind me, so here I am just getting on the bridge.

The Lake Hodges is the world's longest "stress-ribbon" bridge. It basically is a suspension bridge with the suspension cables hidden in the bridge deck. There is a noticeable sag to the bridge, which makes it that much more beautiful in person. Unfortunately, with no nearby place to park, getting a good picture of the bridge from the side is virtually impossible since stopping on the Interstate 15 bridge is not allowed.

Here is a picture looking north from the second pier and benches.

Check out this cool web site that documented the construction of the bridge.

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