Quince Street Bridge

Fresh from our quick jaunt across the Vermont Street Bridge...

and armed with a printout of the many bridges in San Diego, we found our next bridge to cross...


We parked near these painted utility boxes...

and checked out the recently refurbished Quince Street Bridge.  The original bridge was built in 1905 and spans across Maple Canyon between 4th and 5th Avenues. It is 236' long and 60' high. The bridge has been repaired in the past (planks in 1974, trestle bases in 1981). It was going to be demolished in the late 1980's due to dry rot but it was completely refurbished and opened again in 1990. In March 2011, a heavy tree fell on and damaged the bridge which had to be closed for repairs. The bridge was reopened with much fanfare later that fall. This is one of the few remaining wooden trestle bridges in San Diego.

Let's cross the footbridge, shall we?

If you look closely, you can see another bridge in the distance. Keep that in mind for later.

View of apartments on 4th behind us as we crossed to get to 3rd Ave.

Almost at the end now...

We really liked this view from 3rd Ave because of the fruit laden quince trees. Very nice!

A blocky building (circa 1960's?) at Quince and 3rd.

As we were there, there were a few pedestrians crossing the bridge. It was cool to see that these bridges are actually utilized by the neighborhood folks.

View of TC walking back to the 4th Ave side.

Before we got to the end however, we saw a flash of blue...

We observed it for several minutes before it flew away. The feathers were such a brilliant shade.

Below, a poster we saw on one of the utility boxes advertising an upcoming beer festival.

I remember hearing about this in the news, when a huge eucalyptus tree fell on the bridge.

Here is someone's video from when the bridge was closed during construction in August 2011:

It was later reopened that September.

Quince Street Bridge
400 Quince Street (between 4th & 5th Ave)
San Diego, CA 92103

More info here:
Hillquest.com
yelp
"Ceremony to mark reopening of Quince Street pedestrian bridge" - SD Union-Tribune, 8/31/11
"Quince Street Bridge officially reopens to the public" - SD Union-Tribune, 9/1/11

Up next, one more bridge...the one that we saw from this bridge!