Rocky Creek Bridge (California)

36°22′46″N 121°54′08″W / 36.37944°N 121.90222°W / 36.37944; -121.90222 (Rocky Creek Bridge)Carries SR 1CrossesRocky CreekLocaleBig Sur
Monterey CountyMaintained byCaltransCharacteristicsDesignopen-spandrel deck arch bridgeMaterialReinforced concreteTotal length497.1 feet (151.5 m)Longest span239 feet (73 m)HistoryConstruction end1932Location

Rocky Creek Bridge is a reinforced concrete open-spandrel arch bridge on the Big Sur coast of California, featuring a reinforced-concrete, open-spandrel, fixed, parabolic-arch, a decorative cantilevered walkway, and reinforced-concrete railings in an arched-window design. It is located in Monterey County, on the State Route 1 (Cabrillo Highway) about 12 miles (19 km) south of the city of Carmel, and about a mile north of the more famous Bixby Creek Bridge. Rocky Creek Bridge is one of seven similar bridges along State Route 1 known as the Big Sur Arches, it is individually eligible for the National Register of Historic Places under Criterion A for providing important crossings for the Carmel-San Simeon Highway, originally State Route 56 (now State Route 1), and under Criterion C as an outstanding example of modern concrete arch construction with heavily inflected piers, and thin arch rings and spandrels As its name implies, it spans Rocky Creek. A turnout with limited parking space exists to the northwest of the bridge, for tourist use.

The vicinity ecology is noteworthy in that the marine waters at the mouth of Rocky Creek are a habitat for the endangered southern sea otter, E. l. nereis. Additionally, on a ridge above Rocky Creek is one of the few known habitats of Yadon's piperia, a North American rare and endangered species of orchid.