Bixby Creek Bridge Viewpoint

The bridge was designed by engineers C.H. Purcell and F.W. Panhorst as an open-spandrel concrete arch, and built by the Ward Engineering Company. Construction ran from August 1931 to October 1932. Concrete was chosen because it was affordable and because, weathered, it would echo the color of the surrounding cliffs rather than clash with them.

The work was a feat in a place with almost no infrastructure. Crews first had to erect a temporary false bridge of some 300,000 board feet of timber to support the arch as it was poured, and materials came in by truck over narrow one-way roads. Around 45,000 individual sacks of cement were hauled up the framework, suspended by cables high above the creek, to complete the roughly 700-foot structure.

When it was finished, Bixby Creek Bridge was the highest single-span arch bridge in the world and the longest concrete arch on any California state highway, a genuine engineering landmark. Yet it could not carry traffic right away; it stood waiting until 1937, when the rest of the coastal highway was finally completed.

That highway changed everything for Big Sur. Until then, residents were virtually stranded through the winter when the old inland coast road washed out. The bridge and Highway 1 stitched the isolated coast to the wider world, turning a place few could reach into one of the most celebrated scenic drives anywhere, without ever taming its wildness.

Part of what makes the bridge so striking is its stage. It leaps a steep V-shaped canyon where Bixby Creek meets the sea, flanked by open, grassy headlands that turn green in winter and gold by late summer. From the turnouts you can watch the surf work the rocks far below and follow the coastline as it stacks headland behind headland.

The waters here are part of the rich Big Sur coast, where sea otters raft in the kelp, harbor seals rest on the rocks, and gray whales pass offshore in season. Hawks and the occasional condor ride the updrafts along the cliffs. On a clear evening the low sun turns the whole scene, arch and headland and ocean, to gold.

The classic view is from the turnouts at either end of the bridge, especially the dirt pullout on the north side where the old coast road climbs away and gives the perfect side-on angle. The pullouts are small and fill quickly, so patience helps, and it is essential to stop only in the designated turnouts and never on the bridge itself.

Traffic moves fast on the narrow highway, so take care crossing to viewpoints, and be aware that fog often rolls over this coast and can hide the arch entirely. As with all of Big Sur, check Highway 1 conditions before setting out, since landslides regularly close stretches of the road for extended periods.

The closest Boutel™ stays, so you can turn this stop into an overnight. Each is an independently owned, editorially selected place to stay.