Russian Gulch Bridge – Mendocino CA

City:
Mendocino, CA

Site Type:
Parks and Recreation, Infrastructure and Utilities, Roads, Bridges, and Tunnels

New Deal Agencies:
Work Relief Programs, Works Progress Administration (WPA)

Completed:
1939

Designers:
Frederick Panhorst, Henry Kuphal

Quality of Information:
Good

Marked:
No

Site Survival:
Extant

Description

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) played an important role in the construction of highway 1 along the California coast during the 1930s – most famously along the Big Sur coastline.

WPA crews also worked on highway 1 in Mendocino County, where they built three new bridges  — Jack Peters Creek bridge, Russian Gulch bridge and Jughandle Creek bridge. 

Russian Gulch bridge, completed in 1939, is 527 feet long, with a central span of 240 feet.  It is an open-spandrel concrete arch design. It is similar in design to the more famous Bixby Creek Bridge in Big Sur, but its arch has no extra buttresses for support.

Like the others, Russian Gulch bridge has a date stamp but no other marking as to its origins with the WPA.  Today, it is known officially as the Frederick W. Panhorst Bridge, chief of the bridge section of the California Division of Highways from 1931 to 1960.

Source notes

Frank Harzell, "Community discussion continues with renowned UC bridges expert, Caltrans," Mendocino Beacon, September 4, 2014. 

https://bridgehunter.com/ca/mendocino/100151/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_State_Route_1

Site originally submitted by John Stehlin on June 18, 2008.
Additional contributions by Richard A Walker.

Location Info


Russian Gulch State Park
Mendocino, CA 95460
Mendocino County

Coordinates: 39.32889, -123.80444

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