Cold Spring Canyon Bridge Named a Historic Landmark

The Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors Granted the 60-Year-Old Bridge Its New Landmark Status on Tuesday

The Cold Spring Canyon Arch Bridge. | Credit: Paul Wellman File Photo

The Cold Spring Canyon Bridge received historic landmark status from the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday.

The bridge, which opened in 1964, has a complicated past but a number of accolades, including a state designation and awards for its engineering, design, and beauty.

From a bird’s-eye view, the green steel structure looks almost natural against the lush backdrop of the Santa Ynez mountains. At its highest point, it reaches up to 400 feet above the canyon floor, making it the highest arch bridge in California.

The bridge serves as a link between Santa Barbara and Santa Ynez along State Route 154, stretching 1,148 feet across San Marcos Pass. The County Historic Landmarks Advisory Commission (HLAC) nominated it for landmark status based on its innovative design, craftsmanship, architectural features, and quintessentially Santa Barbara location.

In a controversial move in 2012, the California Department of Transportation spent $3.2 million to build a 10-foot mesh fence along the bridge as a suicide barrier. Before installing the fence, the bridge had been the site of at least 55 suicide leaps. However, at least three more people have taken their lives on the bridge since the fence’s construction, the most recent being in 2023.

The fencing is temporary, county staff explained, and can be removed without harming the overall design of the bridge, so it does not affect the bridge’s eligibility for landmark status.

The bridge’s suicide barrier was constructed in 2012. | Credit: Paul Wellman File Photo

With the designation, the bridge’s owner, Caltrans, will now have to take any significant changes to the County Historic Landmarks Advisory Commission (HLAC), which does not have the authority to approve or deny the changes but whose comments must be considered in the process. Regular maintenance and repairs will not have to go through the commission, however.

Supervisors asked whether the bridge will receive a plaque recognizing its landmark status. Keith Coffman-Gray, the commission chair, said that HLAC will likely try to put the funds aside for a plaque when the commission gets its budget for 2025-2026.

“It advertises to the public that these are historic landmarks,” Coffman-Gray said. “We will definitely be making plaques for these, and of course we’ll work with Caltrans to find out where they want it.”