The Big Creek Bridge is a -long, open spandrel, concrete deck arch bridge located on the southern portion of the

Big Sur Big Sur () is a rugged and mountainous section of the Central Coast (California), Central Coast of the U.S. state of California, between Carmel Highlands and San Simeon, where the Santa Lucia Range, Santa Lucia Mountains rise abruptly from th ...

coast of California, along State Route 1 near Lucia. Opened for traffic in 1938, it crosses Big Creek Canyon on this scenic, mountainous coast.

History

Constructed during the

Great Depression The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...

and identified by

Caltrans The California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) is an Executive (government), executive department of the U.S. state of California. The department is part of the Government of California#State agencies, cabinet-level California State Tran ...

as Bridge No. 44 0056, it was opened for traffic in late 1938. Its construction was partially funded by the federal government in connection with the

Works Progress Administration The Works Progress Administration (WPA; from 1935 to 1939, then known as the Work Projects Administration from 1939 to 1943) was an American New Deal agency that employed millions of jobseekers (mostly men who were not formally educated) to car ...

. Situated high above Big Creek canyon, this bridge has remained open while many others on the Pacific Coast Highway have been closed due to mud slides. There are parking areas at both ends of the bridge to allow motorists to stop and take photographs.

Design and construction

Its two main spans are open

spandrel A spandrel is a roughly triangular space, usually found in pairs, between the top of an arch and a rectangular frame, between the tops of two adjacent arches, or one of the four spaces between a circle within a square. They are frequently fil ...

arches, each long, while the -long side arches are

cantilever A cantilever is a rigid structural element that extends horizontally and is unsupported at one end. Typically it extends from a flat vertical surface such as a wall, to which it must be firmly attached. Like other structural elements, a cantilev ...

ed to the canyon walls. The -wide bridge deck provides for two lanes of traffic and is above the ground below. Christian Theophil Gutleben, noted for his reinforced concrete arch bridges throughout the California coast and in the Los Angeles area, was the designer. The structure got a seismic retrofit in 1999.

References

External links

May 1939 ''California Highways and Public Works'' article
{{Big Sur, state=collapsed Road bridges in California Open-spandrel deck arch bridges in the United States California State Route 1 Bridges in Monterey County, California Concrete bridges in California Bridges completed in 1938 Big Sur