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Bixby Creek Bridge

Bixby Bridge, also known as Bixby Creek Bridge, is a bridge on the Big Sur coast of California. It is one of the most photographed bridges in California, because of its aesthetic design, "graceful architecture and magnificent setting".[3][4] It is a reinforced concrete open-spandrel arch bridge. The bridge is 120 miles (190 km) south of San Francisco and 13 miles (21 km) south of Carmel in Monterey County on State Route 1.

Characteristics
Designreinforced concrete open-spandrel arch bridge
History
Construction startAugust 24, 1931
Construction endOctober 15, 1932
Statistics
Daily traffic4,500[1]
Location
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The bridge opened in 1932. Before then, the residents of the Big Sur area were cut off during winter due to blockages on the often impassable Old Coast Road, which led 11 miles (18 km) inland. The bridge was built under budget for $199,861 (equivalent to $NaN in 2019 dollars[5]) and, at 360 feet (110 m),[2] was the longest concrete arch span in the California State Highway System. When it was completed, it was the highest single-span arch bridge in the world,[6]: Script error: The function "hyphen2dash" does not exist. 

The land north and south of the bridge was privately owned until 1988 and 2001. A logging company obtained approval to harvest redwood on the former Bixby Ranch to the north in 1986, and in 2000 a developer obtained approval to subdivide the former Brazil Ranch to the south. Local residents and conservationists fought their plans, and both pieces of land were eventually acquired by local and federal government agencies. A $20 million seismic retrofit was completed in 1996, although its 24-foot (7.3 m) width does not meet modern standards requiring bridges to be 32 feet (9.8 m) wide.

Characteristics

The bridge is 714 feet (218 m) in total length and 24 feet (7.3 m) wide, with 260 feet (79 m) of clearance below, and has a main span of 360 feet (110 m), which places 50% of the total roadbed above the arch.[2] The arch ribs are five feet thick at the deck and nine feet thick at the springing line, where they join the towers at their base. The arches are four and one-half feet wide.[7] The bridge was designed to support more than six times its intended load.[8]

The two large, vertical buttresses or supporting pillars on either side of the arch, while aesthetically pleasing, are functionally unnecessary. Engineers of later arch bridges such as the Frederick W. Panhorst Bridge omitted them from the design.[9] The Rocky Creek Bridge and the Malpaso Creek Bridge to the north are also open-spandrel arch bridges built of reinforced concrete.

Construction

The state first began building Route 56, or the Carmel–San Simeon Highway, in 1919. A number of bridges needed to be constructed, the largest among them across Bixby Creek.[10]

Bridge design

Bixby Bridge under construction, 1932

State engineers considered two alternatives to crossing the creek, an inland route and a smaller bridge, or a coastal location and a larger bridge. The inland route would have needed an 890-foot (270 m) tunnel cut through the Santa Lucia Mountains to a 250-foot (76 m) bridge upstream.[10] The engineers selected the coastal route because it was safer, more scenic, and least affected the environment.

California state highway engineer C. H. Purcell and bridge engineer and designer F. W. Panhorst considered whether to build a steel or concrete span. A steel bridge would cost more to build and maintain, as the sea air would require expensive ongoing maintenance and painting. A steel bridge was also less in keeping with the natural environment. Using concrete reduced material costs and allowed more of the total cost to be paid to workers, which was a positive aspect of the design during the Depression.[3] They chose concrete in part because it would not only reduce both construction and maintenance costs but would also echo the color and composition of the natural rock cliff formations in the area.[8]

Design and materials

An aerial view of the Bixby Bridge showing the curved approaches at both ends

4,700 cubic yards (3,600 m3) of earth and rock were excavated[11] 600,000 pounds of reinforcing steel and 6,600 cubic yards (5,000 m3) of cement were used to build the bridge.[11]

The bridge was built by Ward Engineering Company of San Francisco and dedicated on November 27, 1932.[12]

Bixby Bridge from the northeast

The bridge was necessary to complete the two-lane road which opened in 1937 after 18 years of construction.[13]

Bixby Creek Bridge Media

  • The Brazil Ranch on Serra Hill south of Bixby Creek on the Big Sur coast circa 1880s or 1890s

  • Digital illustration of USPS stamp commemorating Bixby Creek Bridge in Big Sur, California.

  • Viewed from the Old Coast Road

  • Bixby Bridge in Big Sur, California, USA, viewed from Old Coast Rd.

  • Big Sur. Bixby Bridge at night

  • Bixby Bridge, Monterey, United States

References

  1. ↑ Bridgehunter – Historic Bridges of the U.S.: Bixby Bridge Archived July 24, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 Bixby Creek Bridge (1933) at Structurae
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Rutherford, M. A. "A Critical Analysis of Bixby Creek Bridge" (PDF). Proceedings of Bridge Engineering 2 Conference 2009 April 2009, University of Bath, Bath, UK. Archived (PDF) from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved December 10, 2012.
  4. ↑ Spradling, David (April 21, 2015). "Young Bixby Wagons West". Archived from the original on September 14, 2016. Retrieved September 5, 2016.
  5. ↑ Inflated values automatically calculated.
  6. ↑ "Big Sur in 1932: On the Precipice of Change" (PDF). California History. 87 (2). 2010. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 29, 2022.
  7. ↑ "Concrete Arch Bridges California Canyon". Popular Mechanics (Hearst Magazines). April 1933. https://books.google.com/books?id=E-IDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA512. 
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Vitousek, Sean. "Big Sur Bixby Bridge". Archived from the original on November 19, 2011. Retrieved November 13, 2011.
  9. ↑ Elliot, Arthur L. (1983), "Esthetic Development of California's Bridges", Journal of Structural Engineering, 109 (9): 2159–2174, doi:10.1061/(ASCE)0733-9445(1983)109:9(2159)
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 Newland, Renee. "Bixby Creek Bridge". Monterey County Historical Society. Archived from the original on July 16, 2004. Retrieved November 13, 2011.
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 Longfellow, Rickie (April 7, 2011). "Back in Time". U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration. Archived from the original on January 29, 2012. Retrieved December 16, 2011.
  12. ↑ Coventry, Kim (2002). Monterey Peninsula: The Golden Age. Arcadia Publishing. ISBN 978-0-7385-2080-3.
  13. ↑ Glockner, Joseph A. (June 1, 2008). "Naval Facility (NAVFAC) Station History". The Navy CT / SECGRU History. Archived from the original on September 28, 2011.

Other websites

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