Carries 2 lanes of SR 154 Maintained by Caltrans Longest span 700 ft (213 m) Opened 1963 Total length 370 m | Crosses Cold Spring Canyon Design steel arch Construction started 1962 Height 128 m Bridge type Arch bridge | |
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Location Santa Barbara County, California, Santa Ynez, Santa Barbara Similar | ||
Cold spring canyon arch bridge view from below steeper angle
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 was in the top 5 longest span arch bridges of this "supported deck" type in the world till the 1990s. It is currently the highest arch bridge in the U.S. state of California and among the highest bridges in the United States. At its highest point, the bridge deck is 400 ft (122 m) above the canyon floor. 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.
As of March 2012, the bridge had been the site of 55 suicides since its completion, which is about one per year on average; however, some years have several more suicides, such as the eight deaths recorded in 2009. In an effort to prevent future incidents, California Department of Transportation installed a 9.5 ft (2.9 m) tall barrier in the form of an inwardly-curved, finely-gridded mesh fencing in March 2012. It cost $3.2 million. A Santa Monica man committed suicide from the bridge six months later in September 2012.
