Albion River bridge headed toward historic listing

The last timber trestle bridge on California’s scenic Highway 1 is on its way to becoming a national historic landmark, a status many Mendocino Coast residents hope will help preserve the World War II-era structure that towers above the mouth of the Albion River.

Caltrans wants to replace the 150-foot-tall bridge with a wider, modern bridge that can better withstand earthquakes and tsunamis, and accommodate pedestrians and bicyclists. Albion residents want the agency to repair and keep the quirky bridge, which features criss-crossing wooden support towers that resemble the underside of a roller coaster.

The State Historical Resources Commission earlier this month unanimously voted to recommend placing the Albion River bridge on the National Register of Historic Places, which would automatically add it to the state’s historic register. It’s rare for such recommendations to be denied, said state historian Jay Correia. In the past decade, only about four such recommendations have been rejected outright, he said. Between 40 and 50 are recommended and approved for listing each year, Correia said.

Jim Heid, president of the Albion Community Advisory Board, which was formed to address the bridge project, said the listing would bolster efforts to save the bridge.

“To me, that’s huge,” Heid said of the presumed listing. “The historic landmark designation by no means guarantees the bridge’s future, but it adds some powerful ammunition to those who would like to see the bridge preserved.”

The preservationists include a fiercely independent group of residents and activists, known as the Albion Nation, who migrated to the rugged Mendocino Coast in the ’60s and ’70s to pursue alternative lifestyles.

Caltrans spokesman Phil Frisbie said his agency knew the bridge qualified for listing and had assumed it would be listed while the agency prepared to study its proposed replacement. The agency is in the early stages of creating a draft environmental impact report.

Because of that assumption, the listing “has absolutely no impact on the project,” Frisbie said. If the ultimate decision is to remove the bridge, the agency would be required to mitigate the loss in some way, perhaps by installing a historical marker or saving a small portion of the old bridge as a lookout, ideas that don’t sit well with bridge fans.

“To me, the biggest mitigation measure is don’t tear it down,” Heid said.

Caltrans is mulling several scenarios, including shoring up the old bridge, but it contends it cannot be brought up to current seismic standards.

That assertion is challenged by preservationists, who have brought in experts of their own to evaluate the bridge. Another option includes leaving the old bridge intact and building a new one alongside, but Caltrans said some other agency would need to pay for its costly upkeep. The current bridge costs taxpayers an estimated $100,000 in annual maintenance, Caltrans officials say.

For more than 70 years, the bridge has defined the ocean view from the town of Albion, which has a core population of about 168 and includes a grocery store, hardware store and post office.

The town’s jewel, however, is more than picture pretty. The historical commission recommended it for listing largely because of its ingenious and unique wartime construction.

The 130-foot-long bridge, completed in 1944, “is a tribute to the innovative use of concrete, steel and timber under the severe restrictions of wartime shortages,” according to the application for historic listing.

The bridge - which replaced a lower wooden one - originally was designed with concrete arches, the standard at the time. But with steel and concrete being allocated toward the war effort, the bridge had to be redesigned. Caltrans engineers scavenged a 130-foot steel truss railroad bridge from the Feather River, dismantled it and hauled it 115 miles to Albion, where they added a roadbed consisting of asphalt over diagonal layers of wood planks. For support, they poured two concrete towers but built 11 others out of treated Douglas fir. Some 825,000 board feet of timber was floated down the coast from Oregon to the Noyo harbor in Fort Bragg to construct the trestle style supports.

The bridge also has historical significance in that it overlooks the site of the coast’s first sawmill, built by William Richardson, the first American to settle in California, according to the application for historic listing. A campground currently is located in the valley below the bridge.

“Caltrans has a treasure on their hands” but doesn’t realize it, said Bill Heil, an Albion resident and longtime activist.

The state historic commission’s nomination of the bridge for listing is expected to be forwarded to the Keeper of the National Register of Historic Places in Washington, D.C., in about a week, Correia said.

The keeper then has 45 days to approve or deny the nomination.

You can reach Staff Writer Glenda Anderson at 707-462-6473 or glenda.anderson@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @MendoReporter.