Location 162 S. Avenue 61 Designated 1988 Opened 1896 | Built 1896 Reference no. 339 | |
 | ||
The Santa Fe Arroyo Seco Railroad Bridge in Highland Park, Los Angeles, is more than 700 feet (210 m) long and crosses the Arroyo Seco Parkway at an elevation of over 100 feet (30 m). It the tallest and longest railroad span in the city of Los Angeles, and most likely the oldest such structure still in use. The bridge crosses the lower part of the Arroyo Seco, a watershed canyon from the San Gabriel Mountains.
The Santa Fe Arroyo Seco bridge, built in 1896, replaced the 1889 wooden trestle used by the Southern California Railway, which was a subsidiary of the Santa Fe Railroad. The 1889 bridge replaced the original 1885 wooden trestle bridge built by the Los Angeles and San Gabriel Valley Railroad. Rail service ended in 1994 and in the late 1990s, the bridge was retrofitted to accommodate the Los Angeles MTA's Gold Line light rail system which opened on July 26, 2003.
Advocated by the Highland Park Heritage Trust and Charles J. Fisher, the bridge was declared City of Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument #339 on January 22, 1988.