Tuesday January 13, 2026
KCRA 3 —
AUBURN, Calif. — Placer County officials are marking the completion of a major cleanup effort along the American River, removing hundreds of tons of debris that had been submerged for more than six decades in the Auburn State Recreation Area.
Crews have spent the last several months pulling steel and concrete remnants from the old State Route 49 bridge, material left behind after a 1964 collapse tied to the failure of Hell Hole Dam. At the time, an estimated 750 tons of metal fell into the river, and much of it remained underwater for years.