The American River Bridge at Hazel Ave. in Sacramento, California is estimated to carry up to 50,000 cars a day. In order to ease traffic congestion and introduce bicycle and pedestrian lanes, 16 massive girders were used to expand the bridge. Bigge Crane and Rigging, Co. was just the company for the job, given the complexity of the project, the lifting only took two days.

Beginning on the evening of June 11th the cranes were assembled and put into place. The following morning the 16 girders, each weighing an impressive 170,200 lbs. began to arrive and were lifted into their new locations. By Sunday June 13th the girders were in position and the cranes were demobilized from the job site.

In order to complete this job, Bigge used two Liebherr LTM1220 All Terrain cranes, each with 72 feet of boom and full counterweight. Each of these cranes has a lift capacity of 265 tons and operated over 100 feet above the American River in order to hoist the supporting girders.

The bridge is now six lanes wide with a pedestrian path and bicycle lane, as compared to the previous four lanes. Traffic will now make its way across the stretch with more ease. Bigge Crane and Rigging’s crane rental division was behind the success of this job and many others like it.