Colorado Street Bridge

The road curves because the ground would not cooperate. When Pasadena opened the Colorado Street Bridge in 1913, its concrete arches rose 150 feet over the Arroyo Seco and replaced a punishing wagon descent into the gorge. Engineer John Drake Mercereau turned the deck fifty degrees south to find firmer footing, solving a geologic problem with the bridge’s defining sweep.Construction took eighteen months, 11,000 cubic yards of concrete, 600 tons of reinforcing steel, and one mixer pouring half a yard at a time. Slender spandrel columns rest on the great arched ribs; classical balusters and multi-globe lamps give the engineering civic ceremony. Route 66 used the bridge until the Arroyo Seco Parkway opened in 1940.The restored bridge reopened in 1993 after seismic concerns and decades of deterioration. It remains an active roadway and a place with difficult human history, so visit with care: use legal sidewalks or the public streets below, obey any closure and barrier, and never stop in a travel lane or photograph while driving. Check Pasadena conditions before arrival; festivals, maintenance, weather, or safety work can change pedestrian and vehicle access. More

The road curves because the ground would not cooperate. When Pasadena opened the Colorado Street Bridge in 1913, its concrete arches rose 150 feet over the Arroyo Seco and replaced a punishing wagon descent into the gorge. Engineer John Drake Mercereau turned the deck fifty degrees south to find firmer footing, solving a geologic problem with the bridge’s defining sweep.Construction took eighteen months, 11,000 cubic yards of concrete, 600 tons of reinforcing steel, and one mixer pouring half a yard at a time. Slender spandrel columns rest on the great arched ribs; classical balusters and multi-globe lamps give the engineering civic ceremony. Route 66 used the bridge until the Arroyo Seco Parkway opened in 1940.The restored bridge reopened in 1993 after seismic concerns and decades of deterioration. It remains an active roadway and a place with difficult human history, so visit with care: use legal sidewalks or the public streets below, obey any closure and barrier, and never stop in a travel lane or photograph while driving. Check Pasadena conditions before arrival; festivals, maintenance, weather, or safety work can change pedestrian and vehicle access. More