Colorado Street Bridge

The curve in this bridge is not decoration. It is foundation work.

The Colorado Street Bridge carries Colorado Boulevard across the Arroyo Seco, connecting Pasadena with Eagle Rock and Glendale to the west, and it follows a curved path for a structural reason: the bend puts its footings on more solid ground than a straight crossing would have found.

Waddell and Harrington designed it. It was built in 1912 for 191,000 dollars and opened on 13 December 1913, replacing the smaller Scoville Bridge down near the bottom of the arroyo. It spans 1,468 feet, 447 metres, stands 150 feet above the canyon floor at its highest point, and carries Beaux Arts arches with matching light standards and railings. It was part of U.S. Route 66 from about 1936 to about 1940.

The Loma Prieta earthquake closed it in 1989. It was renovated and reopened in 1993, and it is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and designated a California Historic Civil Engineering Landmark.

It also carries a grim local nickname, earned in the early twentieth century, and the city has answered it with physical barriers: an eight foot barrier added during the renovation, temporary fencing later extended along the full length of the bridge, and a plan to replace that with permanent barriers at least seven and a half feet high. If you are struggling, the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline is free and answers around the clock in the United States.

Pasadena Heritage, the preservation non-profit founded in 1977 to fight the demolition of the city's landmarks, counts this bridge among the structures its advocacy helped save, alongside Old Pasadena, the Rose Bowl, the Civic Center and the Central Library. It runs an annual Bridge Party.

The bridge has been on film nearly as long as it has stood. A Mack Sennett short sent a car chase across it in 1915.