August 23, 2024Updated:August 27, 2025

August photo update: Peek behind the California Tower fence

(SACRAMENTO)

Beneath the Sacramento sun, the skeleton of the future rises—beam by beam, floor by floor. The California Tower at UC Davis Health is steadily transforming from blueprint to skyline, as construction crews orchestrate a daily symphony of steel and grit.

With each newly placed beam, the outline of the 14-story hospital tower becomes more defined, hinting at the cutting-edge care and innovation it will soon house.

Here are some fun facts that show just how impressive the steelwork is and new photos from August below.

Structural Steel Fun Facts

15,000 tons of steel—that’s equivalent to:
- The entire suspended roadway of the Golden Gate Bridge
- Three Eiffel Towers
- 1.5 U.S. Navy Destroyers
- 2,000 adult African elephants
338,000 bolts were used just for the erection phase.
If you stacked all the steel columns (excluding beams and other members) end to end:
- They’d reach 9 times the height of the Burj Khalifa (2,717 ft)
- That’s only 1,500 feet shy of Mount Everest
- Or roughly 4.66 miles high
The heaviest single column weighs in at 54,200 pounds, which is about the same as:
- 108,400 juice boxes
- 36 dairy cows
- Half the weight of a blue whale—the largest mammal on Earth
In total, there are 22,000 individual pieces of structural steel.

The California Tower project, expected to be completed in 2030, will include a 14-story hospital tower and a 5-story pavilion that will deliver superior care for Northern Californians and adapt to meet the community's evolving needs.