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AUBURN-

From Hollywood movies to drag racing, the Auburn Foresthill Bridge serves as a beacon of innovation and construction. It’s just breathtaking.

Wednesday, a red ribbon was cut and the first car to ever cross it returned for a celebratory trip.

More than 40 years after it opened, crews celebrated a $74 million facelift and retrofit project.

For roughly three years, it’s been a stream of construction crews, sitting 730 feet above the American River.

It took 9,000 gallons of paint to cover the bridge.

The iconic bridge is the highest in the state, the ninth highest in the world.

More than two million pounds of structural steel were added to the bridge, as well as 220,000 new bolts. All of it to make the bridge safer in case of an earthquake; a real possibility since it is close to three different fault lines.