Completion date: Dec. 27, 1963
Prime Contractor: U.S. Steel Corp., American Bridge Co.
Subcontractors: Massman Construction Co., San Francisco; Rods Inc., Berkeley; H.W. Kirch Co., Vista; Norton Brothers, Anaheim
Type: The Cold Spring Canyon Bridge is a steel arch bridge that uses special cableways designed by American Bridge Co. The cableway towers doubled as tieback towers for the uncompleted arch. Click here for more background on the bridge construction.
Dimensions: 1,148 feet with 700-foot box chord deck arch mainspan over 420-foot canyon
Retrofit: American Bridge Co. completed a seismic retrofit of the bridge in 1998. Click here for more details of the retrofit project.
Historical Status: Cold Spring Canyon Bridge is by far the largest steel arch bridge in California and is designated by Caltrans as a Category 2 bridge, which means it has been determined to be eligible for the National Register of Historic Places, the federal government’s official list of structures, districts, sites, buildings and objects deemed worthy of preservation. Cold Spring Canyon is the only Category 2 bridge in the state that is less than 50 years old, according to Janice Calpo with the Caltrans Environmental Program. The bridge wasn’t included in the 2003-2006 Statewide Historic Bridge Inventory Update, but was evaluated for the barrier project, and it was determined to be eligible with exceptional significance, Calpo wrote Noozhawk in an e-mail.
Noozhawk’s Cold Spring Canyon Bridge Series
» Click here for free suicide prevention resources that are available 24 hours a day.
» Click here for the first story in Noozhawk’s four-day series on Cold Spring Canyon Bridge: Public Safety, Preservation Collide on Cold Spring Canyon Bridge.
» Click here for Day Two’s main story: Creativity a Hallmark of Bridge Barrier Alternatives, Funding.
» Click here for Day Three’s main story: For Barrier Opponents, There’s No Bridging This Divide.
» Click here for Day Four’s main story: Bridge Barrier Debate May Be Resolved in Span of a Month.
» Click here for Noozhawk publisher Bill Macfadyen’s explanation of our series.
» Click here for a timeline of Cold Spring Canyon Bridge.
» Click here for a list of the various suicide prevention measures that were considered.
» Click here for a list of landmark bridges around the world employing suicide-prevention barriers.
» Leading Off: Just What Can We Say, and How? Suicide is a touchy topic for the media. Here’s what Noozhawk does, and why.
— Noozhawk staff writer Giana Magnoli can be reached at gmagnoli@noozhawk.com.