Sometime along about 20 or so years ago … Nov 11, 2005 to be exact.

No one put outriggers out. Gravity still works and there’s a point where the machinery loses balance.

The bridge is about 850 ft long and stands about 95 ft above “normal” water level. That level is evident at the marks on the pier and shoreline. At this time, the reservoir had been drained for maintenance during a period of normal low water; the bridge was 160 ft above water level here.

The year before this picture, 90 elk and 25 mulies broke through thin ice while crossing just above this point and drowned. In efforts to prevent this, the local region was evaluated, including this bridge. The results of this evaluation led to upgrading the bridge (and more directly, the construction of a wildlife bridge attempting to redirect the elk migrations)

During repair operations, the crane over-balanced and fell off the bridge. The operator managed to jump off the machine but a nearby construction worker was pinned between the rig and guardrail as the crane went over.