Carquinez Strait Powerline Crossing

Carquinez Strait Powerline Crossing
South tower at Crockett, California, looking over Carquinez Strait, before 1914
Location
Country	United States
State	California
Ownership information
Operator	Bay Counties Power Company
Construction information
Decommissioned	yes
Technical information
AC voltage	60 kV

Carquinez Strait Powerline Crossing was the world's first powerline crossing of a large river. It was built in 1901 for a 60 kV powerline operated by Bay Counties Power Company to deliver electric power from their Colgate powerhouse to Oakland, California. For this a crossing of Carquinez Strait was required, which has at its narrowest point at Dillon Point a width of 838 metres (0.52 mi). Such a span width was impossible with wooden poles, which were common in those days. Installing an underwater cable was considered, but for reliability reasons an overhead power line was installed, which used at the north site of the river a 68 metres (223.10 ft) tall lattice tower and at the south site one with a height of 20 metres (66 ft).

The project was designated as a California Historic Civil Engineering Landmark by the American Society of Civil Engineers in 1976.^[1][2]

• [1] (Japanese)
• Historic American Engineering Record (HAER) No. CA-191, "Carquinez Straits Transmission Span", 27 photos, 14 data pages, 2 photo caption pages

38°03′23″N 122°12′05″W / 38.05639°N 122.20139°W / 38.05639; -122.20139

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