The 'Bridge to Nowhere' in San Gabriel Mountains, California

Bridges are engineering works designed as communication routes to overcome certain geographical features.

The bridge to nowhere on an islet in the commune of Billy-Berclau, France
Norddalsbrua, a bridge that resisted being blown up during World War II

However, there are bridges that lead nowhere. They are like construction projects that have no meaning, since someone went to the trouble of building them without them now having any use. Some of these bridges owe their condition to having been abandoned, and others are the result of major changes in their environment, such as the bridge on l'Îlot aux Saules, in France, which we saw here a few months ago.

There are some bridges to nowhere that were never used. This seems especially odd considering the high cost of such construction. One of the most famous is the Bridge to Nowhere in the San Gabriel Mountains, California, northeast of Los Angeles. The most curious thing about this beautiful arch bridge is that it is five miles from the nearest road. Who built it there, and why?

This bridge was built in 1936 to provide access to the East Fork Road, which was being built through those mountains to connect the San Gabriel Valley with Wrightwood, at a time when the United States was developing many infrastructure projects promoted by the government of Franklin D. Roosevelt. The bridge was intended to carry that road over the San Gabriel River, spanning a valley in the middle of those mountains. However, it never fulfilled its purpose due to a natural disaster.

Between February and March 1938, while the East Fork Road was still under construction, the Los Angeles area was hit by severe storms that caused severe flooding, with as much rain falling in just a few days as typically occurs in a year. The dams on the San Gabriel River withstood the excess water, but on the night of March 2–3, 1938, a torrent of water overflowed the spillway of the San Gabriel Dam, which was still under construction.

The flood of water swept away the still-under-construction East Fork Road. After the disaster, only the section of the road south of Heaton Flat was rebuilt, leaving the bridge over the San Gabriel River isolated and useless, despite its completion.

At 37 meters high, the bridge is now a popular destination for hikers and bungee jumpers. Access to the bridge is via a 16-kilometer forest trail. It should be noted that this is a dangerous route: there have been rockfalls along the way, and the San Gabriel River in the area experiences significant flooding on rainy days, which has led to the deaths of some hikers who were there. If you'd like to know more, in 2020 the Iguanavision channel published a video of the trail leading to the bridge:

Last Saturday, the channel It's History dedicated this video to the bridge, explaining its eventful history:

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Main photo: Jason Hickey.