Tower Bridge is a vertical lift bridge linking Sacramento with West Sacramento. It replaced the 1911 M Street Bridge, a swing railroad bridge that had been outgrown as the city’s population more than doubled between 1910 and 1935. Construction began in July 1934 and Governor Frank Merriam dedicated the bridge on December 15, 1935.
Its two towers are 160 feet tall and the central lift span is 209 feet long. In 1976, for the Bicentennial, it was painted yellow-ochre to match the gold-leafed cupola of the Capitol; after a later choice among color schemes the all-gold option won, and the bridge was repainted in 2002.