Bixby Creek / Bridge

 

California Bridges

Images of the Bixby Ocean Ranch (see story below) with its stunning views of the Bixby Bridge, pristine beaches, and coastal bluffs are used in various national and international advertisements for cars, credit cards, and airlines. The Bixby Bridge and Ranch have come to symbolize the pristine, majestic beauty of California's Big Sur Coast in the national imagination. In addition to their photogenic qualities, they sit at the northern gateway to the Big Sur Coast,  home to redwood groves, freshwater springs, creeks, and rare and extensive grasslands that support several threatened animal species. 

Located 13.3 miles South of Carmel, Bixby Creek Bridge was one of the largest single-arch concrete bridge in the world when it was completed in 1932.  It is 714 feet long and has a main span of 320 feet. 300,000 feet of timber, excavation of 4,700 cubic yards of earth and rock and 45,000 sacks of cement transported from San Andreas and Davenport (near Santa Cruz)  were part of the equation for solid and long-lasting construction.

The contract for the bridge was awarded to Ward Engineering Company of San Francisco on Aug. 13, 1931 and it was completed on Oct. 15 and dedicated on Nov. 27 of 1932. C.H. Purcell was state highway engineer and F.W. Panhorst was acting bridge engineer for the California division of highways.

It took five more years for Route 1 along Big Sur to be completed in 1937 and shortly thereafter, California Sea Otters were discovered from this location in 1938.

Registered as an Historic Landmark, the bridge recently underwent a retrofit for more stringent earthquake standards which have come into effect in the 70 years since it was constructed.  The two-lane arch bridge over Bixby Creek – in Big Sur, California -- reflects the Art Deco style popular in the early 1930s, when the crossing was built. Its slender deck and arch ribs appear almost transparent as it carries U.S. Route 1 through the scenic park. 

Safeguarding Bixby Bridge 

By Brad Pollock, P.E., design engineer, and J. M. Benoit, P.E., Ph.D., chief engineer, in the Walnut Creek, California, office of Buckland & Taylor Ltd., which is based in North Vancouver, British Columbia; and Dave Pajouhesh, P.E., a senior bridge engineer and project manager for the California Department of Transportation. 

But the bridge was vulnerable to a major earthquake, so the California Department of Transportation hired Buckland & Taylor of Walnut Creek, California, to design a seismic upgrade that would allow the bridge to withstand the most violent earthquake with no collapse and no loss of life, and which would also preserve the bridge's appearance and do minimal damage to the surrounding ecosystem. 

The crux of the design was the longitudinal post tensioning of the entire bridge deck from end to end. Now the continuous, stiffened deck has four lateral reaction points: two new massive abutments anchored by large diameter cast-in-drilled-hole (CIDH) piles and the two towers strengthened and anchored to rock with tie-down anchors. New shear keys laterally support the arch ribs at their crowns by linking them with the deck.  The builder was the Ward Engineering Co. and E.C.
 Panton was General Superintendent. 
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At the beginning of the 20th century, the region was home to profitable mills that processed lumber products and lime and shipped them north to San Francisco. Tourists resorts such as Rainbow Lodge thrived until acquisition for right of way and completion of Route 1 occurred around 1930.

The California Coastal Conservancy announced  the approval of a $5 million grant toward the purchase and eventual protection by the US Forest Services of  Landmark Big Sur (CA) Bixby Ranch. The ranch, 13 miles south of Carmel, will be split into nine separate properties and sold for development if it is not purchased for conservation. TPL will purchase this crown jewel of the Big Sur Coast, easily identified by the historic Bixby Bridge on Highway 1, to protect it from looming development. Hoping to safeguard its sweeping views, rocky shoreline, and magnificent rolling hills for public enjoyment and critical wildlife habitat, TPL is attempting to purchase the ranch (which was previously owned by Allen Funt of Candid Camera fame), and then transfer it  to the U.S. Forest Service, creating an 11-mile stretch of permanently protected coastline beginning at the Bixby Bridge and extending south through Andrew Molera State Park.  Public and private fundraising continues.

"The protection of the Bixby Ocean Ranch as the Big Sur Coast's most recognized property is conservation on a national scale benefiting the millions of people who visit the coast now and for generations to come. The property, once it is open to the public, will provide unprecedented recreational opportunities along the Big Sur Coast. Protecting this important national landscape is a top priority," says U.S. Congressman Sam Farr.

Funding is needed  to protect important American landscapes. For more information find TPL on-line at www.tpl.org.  Information  in this section was supplied by TPL.