What looks like the Rainbow Bridge at Donner
Pass
is actually the scaffolding for the new bridge. The actual height of the bridge
will reach those two abutments we see towards the top of the photo.
Here is a cool photograph of the construction of the Rainbow Bridge. We can see
the new bridge, the approaching roads, and if you look very closely at the very
bottom right, an automobile headed up by the small pond and using the original
alignment of the Lincoln Highway, since the bridge is not yet complete. The
small pond the car is passing was formed by the construction of the
second-generation Lincoln, which blocked its outflow.
A beautiful postcard photograph is showing the newly completed second-generation
Lincoln Highway bridge, complete with dirt approaches, which changed to asphalt
when the road became Highway 40. The plaque pictured used to be at the lookout
point near the bridge. It now rests at the Donner Summit Historical
Society.
All photos courtesy of the Donner Summit Historical Society, Norm Sayler Collection