Napa County, California Bridges: Neuenschwander Road Bridge across Huichica Creek

November 2013 (38.25053 Degrees, -122.36107 Degrees) Neuenschwander Road Bridge

Napa Valley is well known for its wine and probably less known for its many stone arch bridges. These bridges are very similar to the ones built by the Romans, with a semi-circular stone arch rib supporting stone walls.

We are starting a new county today with the Neuenschwander Road Bridge in the southwest part of Napa County. This bridge was built in 1895 and carries Neuenschwander Road over Huichica Creek, which was very dry when we visited in November. It's a single span, closed spandrel, stone arch bridge supporting a concrete deck. The bridge is 15 feet wide and 40 ft long. Note the spandrel walls have a concrete border (for the deck) and additional stones for the pedestal/barrier. There is an old retaining wall butted against the southwest end of the bridge but the southeast spandrel wall acts as a retaining wall for the approach fill and it's badly cracked.

The bridge is at the end of a large vineyard and the road and the bridge do not appear to be maintained. There is no bridge number or listing for this bridge in the National Bridge Inventory and it is unlisted as a historic place. There is no sign giving a load rating for the bridge, probably because it is no longer carrying a county road. There is a sign (obscured by branches) giving the bridge's name and date of construction).

Napa County, California Bridges: Neuenschwander Road Bridge across Huichica Creek by Mark Yashinsky is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.