New Pfeiffer Canyon Bridge Opens on Big Sur Coast to Replace Damaged Span
BIG SUR (CBS/AP) -- California transportation officials have opened a $24 million bridge on State Route 1 that replaces one damaged when winter storms pounded the Big Sur coast and cut the scenic coastal highway in several places.
The Pfeiffer Canyon Bridge opened Friday afternoon following a celebration of the project's completion just eight months after the old concrete bridge was hit by a landslide.
Caltrans Director Malcolm Dougherty says such projects normally take several years to complete.
The new structure has 15 steel girders, each weighing 62 tons, that span the 310-foot canyon. It has no support columns, eliminating vulnerability from future slides.
Caltrans says another slide 24 miles south of Pfeiffer Canyon remains active and construction of a new roadway is underway at a slide near the San Luis Obispo-Monterey county line.
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