- 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.
At this Location:
Contribute to this Site
We welcome contributions of additional information on any New Deal site.
Submit More Information or Photographs for this New Deal Site
Join the Conversation