California | The Best Travel Destinations

Redwood National and State Parks – California – USA

Redwood National and State Parks – California – USA

The Redwood National and State Parks (RNSP) are located in the United States, along the coast of northern California. Comprising Redwood National Park (established 1968) and California’s Del Norte Coast, Jedediah Smith, and Prairie Creek Redwoods State Parks (dating from the 1920s), the combined RNSP . . . → Read More: Redwood National and State Parks – California – USA

Bixby Creek Bridge – California – USA

Bixby Creek Bridge – California – USA

Bixby Creek Bridge, also known as Bixby Bridge, is a reinforced concrete open-spandrel arch bridge in Big Sur, California. The bridge is located 120 miles (190 km) south of San Francisco and 13 miles (21 km) south of Carmel in Monterey County along California Highway One. Prior to the opening of the bridge in 1932, residents of the Big Sur area were virtually cut off during winter due to the often impassable Old Coast Road that led 11 miles (18 km) inland. At its completion, the bridge was built under budget for $199,861 and was the longest concrete arch span at 320 feet (98 m) on the California State Highway System.

The bridge is 714 feet (218 m) long, with 45% of the roadbed above the arch, 24 feet (7.3 m) wide, over 280 feet (85 m) high and has a main span of 320 feet (98 m). Its two heavy buttresses or supporting pillars at either end are functionally unnecessary, and engineers of later arch bridges such as the Frederick W. Panhorst Bridge omitted them from the design. The bridge was designed to support more than six times its intended load. The Rocky Creek Bridge and the Malpaso Creek Bridge to the north are also open-spandrel arch bridges built of reinforced concrete.

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Tower Bridge – Sacramento – California

Tower Bridge – Sacramento – California

The Bridge is a prominent Sacramento icon. It crosses the Sacramento River connecting West Capitol Avenue and Tower Bridge Gateway in West Sacramento with the Capitol Mall in Sacramento near Old Sacramento. It was the first vertical lift bridge in California which permits cargo and passenger ship traffic under the bridge.