Spruce Street Suspension Bridge
Swaying wooden footbridge strung on cables high above a canyon, built to link a hillside neighborhood to the streetcar line.
Location
About this audio guide
This guide to the Spruce Street Suspension Bridge in San Diego traces it back to nineteen eleven, when city engineer Edwin Capps strung cable and concrete across a canyon so Bankers Hill residents could reach the streetcars without scrambling down a ravine. It follows the bridge's nickname, the wiggly bridge, and generations of children and teenagers who learned to set the span rocking on purpose, until the city was inspecting it every few months by the nineteen seventies. You'll hear what those inspections turned up in the bridge's hardware. Grip the cable partway across and feel how deliberate that sway still is.
This audio guide was created using AI.
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