One of the most photographed bridges in California due to its aesthetic design, "graceful architecture and magnificent setting"

General Information

Hours:

Open daily: 24 hours
Best visited during daylight for safety and scenic views

Fees:

Free to visit
No entrance or parking fees

Pet Policy:

Leashed pets are allowed in roadside and viewpoint areas
Not permitted on bridge structure or steep trails

Closest cities with hotels:

Carmel-by-the-Sea (15 mi)
Monterey (20 mi)
Big Sur (10 mi)

Seasons:

Best visited in early spring for green hills and wildflowers
Summer and fall offer clear skies and dramatic sunsets

Location:

CA-1, Bigtps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bixby_Creek_Bridge" rel="noopener" target="_blankpedia: Bixby Creek Bridge

How to Get There

From Carmel-by-the-Sea, CA (15 mi): Take CA-1 south for approximately 15 miles along the Pacific Coast Highway to reach Bixby Creek Bridge.

Overview

Bixby Creek Bridge, also known as Bixby Canyon Bridge, on the Big Sur coast of California, is one of the most photographed bridges in California due to its aesthetic design, "graceful architecture and magnificent setting". It is a reinforced concrete open-spandrel arch bridge. The bridge is 120 miles south of San Francisco and 13 miles south of Carmel in Monterey County along State Route 1.

When it was completed, it was the highest single-span arch bridge in the world, and it remains one of the tallest.

Location

The bridge is "one of the most photographed features on the West Coast" and in the world. The bridge's location on the scenic Central Coast of California, the parabolic shape of the arch, the tall spandrel columns, and the architectural piers contribute to an "intense aesthetic experience. "It's the gateway to Big Sur and the interior has never been logged.

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. 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. The bridge was designed to support more than six times its intended load.

The two large, vertical buttresses or supporting pillars on either side of the arch, while aesthetically pleasing, are functionally unnecessary.

This article uses material from the Wikipedia article "Bixby Creek Bridge", which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0