The Big Creek Bridge is a bowstring arch bridge that spans the Big Creek on U.S. Route 101 in Lane County, Oregon. It was designed by Conde McCullough and opened in 1931.
The bridge has a total length of 180 ft (55 m) and contains one 120 ft (37 m) reinforced concrete tied arch, identical in design to Ten Mile Creek Bridge and Wilson River Bridge. The locations for all three bridges were similar in that the sandy foundations were not secure enough for the abutment piers required to relieve the lateral pressure of traditional arches. The flood levels of the rivers approached the road grade and ruled out the use of reinforced concrete girders. The corrosive salt air eliminated the practicality of steel truss bridges. The design of the bridge was similar to the rainbow arch design patented by James Barney Marsh.
Famous quotes containing the words big, creek and/or bridge:
“Towns oftener swamp one than carry one out onto the big ocean of life.”
—D.H. (David Herbert)
“It might be seen by what tenure men held the earth. The smallest stream is mediterranean sea, a smaller ocean creek within the land, where men may steer by their farm bounds and cottage lights. For my own part, but for the geographers, I should hardly have known how large a portion of our globe is water, my life has chiefly passed within so deep a cove. Yet I have sometimes ventured as far as to the mouth of my Snug Harbor.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Home! Yes! she would see Trafalgar Square, again; and Nelson on his plinth; and Chelsea Bridge as it dissolved into the Thames at twilight ... and St. Paul’s, the single Amazon breast of her beloved native city.”
—Angela Carter (1940–1992)