Crystal Springs Dam Bridge Construction Tour

PHOTO-ESSAY.

Lower Crystal Springs Dam Bridge Closure

Closure of Lower Crystal Springs Dam Bridge to Cars on Weekdays

Trail is Open, but Expect Delays During Work Hours

 February 10 – April 3, 2020

The San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC) owns and operates a regional water system that includes the Crystal Springs Watershed and serves 2.7 million Bay Area customers.

What is Happening:

• Crews representing the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC) will be doing minor construction work on Lower Crystal Springs Dam.
  • Crews will address an issue of water ponding on the top of the dam by constructing a trench to allow for the water to drain safely off the dam.  This ensures we can perform our regular inspections of the dam and perform any necessary work in an emergency 
  • Crews will also fill a gap between the parapet wall and the dam’s left abutment. They will construct a reinforced concrete wall (10 feet long, by 4 or 5 feet tall) to fill the gap on the dam.  
• SFPUC has received permission to close Lower Crystal Springs Dam Bridge to cars to perform this work.  

• • In order to bring any equipment or power tools and material to the dam crest, our contractor must use a crane.

• • The footings of the crane and the crane arm will take up most of the bridgeway. Therefore, the bridge must be closed to cars during the work.

What to Expect:

• The Bridge will close to all car traffic Monday through Friday. There is no anticipated work on weekends and holidays.
• The Trail Portion of the Bridge will remain open, but hikers and cyclists could experience occasional delays of approximately 15 minutes during weekday work hours
• Flaggers will temporarily halt trail traffic when the crane arm is in motion and it is not safe to be under it.  
• The bridge will reopen to car traffic at sunrise on Saturdays, and will close at sunset on Sundays and holidays.  

We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause. Thank you for your continued support as we maintain the Hetch Hetchy Regional Water System.

Follow us online at sfwater.org/peninsula

For more information (888) 801-2661, email info@sfwater.org

A little history. Darn taggers. Grrr.

His dam survived the 1906 earthquake.

SFPUC Public Relations, Betsy Lauppe Rhodes and Will Reisman and the Assistant General Manager, Steve Ritchie.

Steven Ritchie is Assistant General Manager of the Water Enterprise, responsible for overseeing water system operations and planning from Hetch Hetchy through the Regional Water System to the City Distribution Division and the management of lands and natural resources.

Steve was the Manager of Planning from 1995 to 1998. Prior to his current assignment, he managed the South Bay Salt Pond Restoration Project, a multi-agency effort to restore 15,100 acres of valuable habitat in South San Francisco Bay, while providing for flood risk management and public access.

Steve has worked at management positions at the San Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board (1987-1995), the CalFed Bay-Delta Program (1998-2000), and URS consultants (2000-2004). He has a B.S. and M.S. in Civil Engineering from Stanford University.

Fencing keeping the spillway safe.

The Spillway