California's Last Beautiful Wooden Highway 1 Bridge Is Hit With An Upsetting Problem

California's Highway 1 makes for an epic road trip with plenty of beautiful beaches and cities along the way. However, the highway can also have its challenges. Long stretches of it are fairly remote, particularly north of San Francisco, and landslides can cut off access. In fact, a part of Highway 1 that passes through Big Sur went through an 18-month closure. And now, the last remaining wooden bridge along this popular highway is likely to come down.

The Albion River Bridge, which takes the highway over the Albion River as it empties into the Pacific Ocean, has been there since 1944. It's 150 feet tall and 969 feet long, and it's become a veritable symbol of the small community that lives here. In 2017, it was placed on the National Register of Historic Places.

However, the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) has determined that the bridge is in "poor and deteriorating condition," and is proposing replacing it altogether (via Albion River Bridge Project). After years of public comments, a "preferred project design" for the bridge has been confirmed on the Caltrans website. It will feature a simpler, single-arch design, and the estimate is that the new bridge will be open in 2031, following three years of construction work.

But not everyone is happy about the proposed change to the Albion River Bridge. Some locals have come together to form the Albion Bridge Stewards, aiming to help protect the historic bridge from being replaced. The group submitted public comments to Caltrans, highlighting some of the issues they had with the new project. These included potential environmental disturbances that could impact wildlife, potential traffic delays, as well as noise and air quality problems during construction. They also pointed out that the historic Bixby Bridge along Highway 1 in Big Sur wasn't torn down but was instead restored and retrofitted by Caltrans for over $20 million.

The original plan for the Albion River Bridge back in the 1940s was to use concrete, similar to some of the other bridges along Highway 1 in the area. However, since World War II was still going on, timber was used instead, and the bridge's eye-catching and historic timber truss construction is a big part of why some people love it so much.

A part of the Caltrans argument for a new bridge is that if something happened to the current bridge and it had to be closed, it would involve a 126-mile detour. That would cut off Highway 1 access to towns like Little River, an underrated Northern California community with kayaking, hiking, and delightful inns. It would also require locals to go out of their way for their basic needs. The biggest city on the Mendocino Coast is Fort Bragg, an artsy little town, about 15 miles north of the bridge.