Sunday, May 1, 2016

Monterey County, California Bridges: Rocky Creek Bridge

June 2013 (36.37960-121.90221) Rocky Creek Bridge
Along coastal Highway 1 in Monterey County are six open spandrel arch bridges that were built in the 1930s.  The Rocky Creek Bridge is typical of these bridges with T girder approach spans, two arch ribs for the main span, and a deck supported by spandrel columns. It was built in 1932 with a 240 ft long arch span.
This bridge is substandard in many ways. It's only 24 ft wide and the reinforcement is corroded. Moreover, the coast consists of bluffs and headlands and so the highway is often closed due to landslides and flooding during the winter.

The bridges weren't designed for earthquakes and so they were all retrofitted by Buckland and Taylor in the 1990s. The retrofit was to tie the superstructure to the abutments (to act as a strut) and to strengthen the spandrel columns with casings, all without changing the appearance of these historic bridges.

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