An updated version of this scenery package is included in my new Bay Area Bridges bundle, along with all my other previously released bridge scenery packages for the area and some other extras.
The Richmond–San Rafael Bridge, officially known as the John F. McCarthy Memorial Bridge, is the northernmost of the highway bridges that span San Francisco Bay. The bridge is a 5.5 mile long double-deck combination of girder, truss, and cantilever bridge spans. Opened to traffic in 1953, it directly connects Marin and Contra Costa counties between the cities of San Quentin and Richmond, carrying Interstate 580.
The bridge has a rather unusual design; because it crosses two separate shipping channels, it includes two separate, but identical, cantilever spans, providing 185 feet (west span) and 135 feet (east span) of clearance. This lends the bridge a unique vertical profile, with two distinct visible crests. Famously, the architect Frank Lloyd Wright called it "the most awful thing I've ever seen" and called for its demolition.
Features
- Hand-modeled recreation of the Richmond–San Rafael Bridge (and its toll plaza just east of the bridge itself).
(NOTE: At present Flight Simulator seems to be having issues with traffic placement on the double-decker sections of the bridge. Westbound (top deck) seemed OK, but eastbound behavior was inconsistent and weird. But of course since the decks are right on top of each other, there's no way to solely exclude the problematic traffic. I ended up excluding traffic from most of the bridge so you don't have cars driving on the water and such, but will update if I'm able to find a good solution.)
- LOD models to reduce performance impact. Keep in mind this is a very long truss bridge, and even the LOD models are somewhat heavy compared to the other bridges I've made; I've done what I can to pare them down and still reflect the overall look of the bridge accurately.
- Added night lights to the bridge: road lights from native object library, boat and aircraft guidance lights custom in Blender.
- Some terraforming and vegetation tweaks around the bridge ends.
Installation
- Download the ZIP file and extract the "whitearcades-richmondsanrafaelbridge" folder to your Community folder:
For the Microsoft Store version: C:\Users\[Username]\AppData\Local\Packages\Microsoft.FlightSimulator_\LocalCache\Packages\Community
For the Steam version: C:\Users\[Username]\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft Flight Simulator\Packages\Community
Other Scenery By Me
(all available on flightsim.to)
San Francisco - Oakland Bay Bridge night lighting enhancements
Dumbarton Bridge
San Mateo Bridge
Carquinez Bridge
Benicia-Martinez Bridge
Antioch Bridge
Six Flags Magic Mountain
Cedar Point
Kings Island
Six Flags Over Texas
Busch Gardens Williamsburg
CaptainMoonlight
TheWhiteArcades author
4 months ago
FreakyD
Had all your SF area bridges since release. Finally getting around to giving you some much deserved 5-ers.
TheWhiteArcades author
Thanks a lot. Hoping to get back to these at some point soon for some updates/additions.
1 years ago
MRAviation
Thank you for your work on these Bay Area bridges. They are beautifully done. It makes such a difference flying approach into KSFO, KOAK and KCCR seeing these bridges. You made MSFS come to life in a very incredible way.
rexbo47
Thanks for your work on the wonderful renditions of Bay Area bridges. It seems the Antioch bridge needs some love also since the sim did a particularly poor job of it. Cheers!
TheWhiteArcades author
Thanks!
BTW, I took a break from the bridges so I can get back on a bigger project I had been working on, but Antioch is at the top of my list once I get back to them.
3 years ago
teryn1
wonderful, thank you. Really great addition
fStopper
Nice, thank you.
fosheem
Update: 5 days ago I had issues (see below), but when I retested today, flying an Asobo 172 G1000, I didn't have any problems. I retested with the plane I was probably flying a few days ago (Vans RV7, a great ride) and again, no problems. I have installed several new or updated mods in the last 5 days, including Water Fix - San Marin County. In the initial test I had rebooted after the initial crash and otherwise done my due diligence, so I don't know why the differing results, but I'm glad all is well now, and I can use this excellent bridge.
Sorry if my issues put anyone off, I can now highly recommend the Richmond bridge. It is very well executed and aligns well with the surrounding scenery.
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This bridge's current version causes my sim to crash to the desktop when trying to depart from KSFO, during the loading flight phase. Confirmed through testing, though your previous two Bay bridges are working (and looking) great. The nearest mod to this bridge was your San Mateo Bridge (I don't have any in the north bay mods, San Jose airport is my northern most mod in the south bay area. The aircraft I used was tested and found to be operational from KSFO, if I disable just your Richmond bridge.
I'm sure it's just a minor issue, really looking forward to adding Richmond to my SF Bay, along side your other great bridges. Keep up the great work!
TheWhiteArcades author
Glad to hear it's working well for you now!
3 years ago
RGCripe
How about the Coranado bridge in San Diego??
TheWhiteArcades author
I couldn't remember whether the (very good) LatinVFR payware scenery for KSAN had touched the default Coronado bridge along with the other downtown landmarks, but it appears it does not. It's not as bad as some of the ones I'm currently working on replacing, but it's still rather glaring, especially at night. I'll put it on my to-do list, though I can't promise a particular timeline.
Also, if you wouldn't mind opening a scenery request for the bridge, that would help greatly!
3 years ago
Fungaming44
Hope the downloads work again soon on this site so I can download it, right now I cant download anything as it brings me to a forbidden page. Looking forward to using this
ahsaul
Thank you SO much for working on these bridges! I lived in Benicia for a long time and seeing the monstrosity while flying around there was always tough... Same with the bridges you've worked on so far. Much appreciated!
fppilot
Stunning! Is it possible to combine these SF and SM bridges into one mod?
TheWhiteArcades author
Thanks so much!
Might look at combining them into a single package when I have finished making the full set of bridges. Still planning to do the bridges in Benicia and Vallejo. It's definitely easier to have just one thing to download and put in the folder than 5.
3 years ago
gryper
I got really drunk one night about 30 years ago up in north bay and had to walk back to Hayward on the 101 and across this bridge. A bus driver picked me up half way across and dropped me at BART station so I could catch a train home.
TheWhiteArcades author
Holy crap, man.
3 years ago