Wildcat Creek Bridge – Carmel Highlands/Big Sur CA

Description

Wildcat Creek bridge was built during the New Deal as part of the Big Sur highway project (former state highway 56, now state highway 1 or the Cabrillo Highway). It is one of several New Deal aided bridges and highway segments along the route.  Wildcat Creek bridge was probably begun just before the New Deal but was completed in mid-1933.

The California coast highway was an ambitious project begun in the early days of automobiles and state highway building, in which California was a leader.  The first efforts to build the road took place in Southern California in the early 1910s.  California officially approved financing of the Big Sur highway along the central coast in 1919 and construction begun near San Simeon in 1921.  Work flagged in the mid-20s because of labor shortages until the State Highway Department brought in convict labor in 1928.  

The Big Sur highway is known for a route along spectacular cliffs and over deep canyons, where some of the country’s most beautiful bridges can be found.  The road and bridges north of Big Sur and south of Piedras Blancas were mostly done by 1932, but hardest segments to build were along the central sections of steep  and unstable cliffs (north and south of Lucia).  These were the last to be completed, using New Deal aid.  The road was also resurfaced with asphalt during the New Deal period.  

New Deal funding came from the Public Works Administration (PWA) and Bureau of Public Roads (BPR) to the California State Highway Department, which hired contractors to do the work.

The Coast Highway opened to fanfare in 1937.  The road has been repaired and improved many times over the years because the cliffs continue to send landslides onto the highway and, in some cases, take it out entirely, as in 2017 and 2023.