Cold Spring Canyon Arch Bridge

Cold Spring Canyon Arch Bridge
Carries	2 lanes of SR 154
Crosses	Cold Spring Canyon
Locale	Santa Barbara County, California
Design	steel arch
Total length	1,214 ft (370 m)
Longest span	350 m (1,150 ft)
Opened	1963
Coordinates	34°31′33.81″N 119°50′4.53″W / 34.5260583°N 119.8345917°W / 34.5260583; -119.8345917

The Cold Spring Canyon Arch Bridge in the Santa Ynez Mountains links Santa Barbara, California with Santa Ynez, California. The bridge is signed as part of State Route 154. The current bridge was completed and opened to traffic in 1963 and won awards for engineering, design and beauty. It is currently the 5th-longest span arch bridge of this "supported deck" type in the world. Seismic retrofitting was completed in 1998.

Cold Spring Tavern, originally a stagecoach stop, is approximately 600m south of the bridge's west base in the canyon below, on a stub of Old San Marcos Pass Road (now named Stagecoach Rd.) connecting with SR 154 at Camino Cielo and Paradise Roads.

The bridge causes concern the Santa Barbara community as the site of dozens of suicides over the years; there is ongoing controversy over whether to install barriers or other measures to prevent this.

Aerial view: Western end of bridge. Cold Spring Tavern is on Stagecoach Rd. beneath the bridge, just off the top of this photo.

American Society of Civil Engineers commemorative plaque: on Stagecoach Rd.

See also

• Santa Ynez Valley
• Santa Barbara, California

References

• Cold Spring Bridge, dot.ca.gov, retrieved on 2007-01-31.
• List of Awards "Highways and Roads" (CA DOT CalHwyIndex.pdf), pg. 28
• Cold Spring Canyon Arch Bridge at Structurae
• "Controversy Rises Over County’s Number One Suicide Spot", UCSB Daily Nexus, May 20, 2008
• "Fatal Attraction - Cold Spring Toll Hits 47", EdHat.com, Nov 28, 2008

External links

• Seismic retrofit 1999 Buckland & Taylor Ltd.
• Aerial photo 12/27/08.