The San Diego-Coronado Bridge is a 2.12-mile bridge that spans San Diego Bay and connects the City of San Diego with the City of Coronado. It is the main way of access to Coronado's beaches and the North Island Naval Air Station, as well as the Silver Strand isthmus that connects Coronado to Imperial Beach and the mainland.
The bridge can be accessed via Interstate 5 in the Barrio Logan neighborhood, just north of National City. It rises and descends in a sweeping curve that terminates at Fourth Avenue in Coronado.
When was it built?:
Construction of the bridge started in 1967 and opened on Aug. 3, 1969. Robert Mosher was the primary architect of the structure, which uses orthotropic steel, a thin, tubelike design for efficiency and grace. The structure uses the world's longest continuous box girder to conceal the braces, joints, and stiffeners normally visible in other bridges. Mosher says he designed the 30 arched towers after Balboa Park's Cabrillo Bridge.
Why is it noteworthy?:
The opening of the bridge eliminated the longtime vehicle ferries that crossed San Diego Bay and provided quick and easy access to Coronado. The graceful and clean architecture and blue paint has made the bridge San Diego's most notable landmark and symbol. Archtect Mosher claims the 90 degree curve is by necessity: span long enough so it can rise to a height of 200 feet and a 4.67% grade, allowing even the Navy's aircraft carrier can sail under. In 1970, it received the Most Beautiful Bridge Award of Merit of the American Institute of Steel Construction.
Facts & figures?:
Cost: $ 47.6 million. The former toll bridge paid off its construction bonds in 1986, and the $1 toll as eliminated in 2002. The bridge has five lanes of traffic and carries 85,000 cars daily. The 34-inch-high concrete barrier railings are low enough to permit an unobstructed view from vehicles on the roadway. The shipping channels are spanned by the world's longest continuous three-span box girder, 1,880 feet. The towers rest on 487 prestressed reinforced concrete piles. In the 1976 the bridge was retrofitted with special rods to protect against earthquake damage.
Did you know?:
Under the roadway is a steel-mesh catwalk built to facilitate bridge maintenance. Caltrans conducts routine inspections to detect concrete flaking and exposed bare metal surfaces.
Painting the bridge is a never-ending job. A six-person crew works year-round to keep it protected from corrosive ocean breezes. The blue color was chosen to blend with sky and sea.
Architect Mosher took a piece of string to map out the crossing points of the bridge and to determine the curve and the state requirements for the bridge, as the span needed to be a bit more than two miles long, making a straight path impossible.
It is supposedly the third deadliest suicide bridge in the U.S., trailing only San Francisco's Golden Gate bridge Seattle's Aurora Bridge. Since 1969, 254 people have jumped off the bridge, which is 240 feet high at its apex. Nine survived.
When was it built?:
Construction of the bridge started in 1967 and opened on Aug. 3, 1969. Robert Mosher was the primary architect of the structure, which uses orthotropic steel, a thin, tubelike design for efficiency and grace. The structure uses the world's longest continuous box girder to conceal the braces, joints, and stiffeners normally visible in other bridges. Mosher says he designed the 30 arched towers after Balboa Park's Cabrillo Bridge.
Why is it noteworthy?:
The opening of the bridge eliminated the longtime vehicle ferries that crossed San Diego Bay and provided quick and easy access to Coronado. The graceful and clean architecture and blue paint has made the bridge San Diego's most notable landmark and symbol. Archtect Mosher claims the 90 degree curve is by necessity: span long enough so it can rise to a height of 200 feet and a 4.67% grade, allowing even the Navy's aircraft carrier can sail under. In 1970, it received the Most Beautiful Bridge Award of Merit of the American Institute of Steel Construction.
Facts & figures?:
Cost: $ 47.6 million. The former toll bridge paid off its construction bonds in 1986, and the $1 toll as eliminated in 2002. The bridge has five lanes of traffic and carries 85,000 cars daily. The 34-inch-high concrete barrier railings are low enough to permit an unobstructed view from vehicles on the roadway. The shipping channels are spanned by the world's longest continuous three-span box girder, 1,880 feet. The towers rest on 487 prestressed reinforced concrete piles. In the 1976 the bridge was retrofitted with special rods to protect against earthquake damage.
Did you know?:
Under the roadway is a steel-mesh catwalk built to facilitate bridge maintenance. Caltrans conducts routine inspections to detect concrete flaking and exposed bare metal surfaces.
Painting the bridge is a never-ending job. A six-person crew works year-round to keep it protected from corrosive ocean breezes. The blue color was chosen to blend with sky and sea.
Architect Mosher took a piece of string to map out the crossing points of the bridge and to determine the curve and the state requirements for the bridge, as the span needed to be a bit more than two miles long, making a straight path impossible.
It is supposedly the third deadliest suicide bridge in the U.S., trailing only San Francisco's Golden Gate bridge Seattle's Aurora Bridge. Since 1969, 254 people have jumped off the bridge, which is 240 feet high at its apex. Nine survived.
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