Salt Water Barrier

 road bridge, historic ruins

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Remains of the barrier is what's left of Surf Bridge after it was destroyed in the 1969 winter floods. The bridge was built in 1942 by the US Army to handle tanks and other heavy vehicles crossing the Santa Ynez river during WWII. The salt water barrier consisted of huge concrete blocks sunk into the mud to prevent salt water from encroaching on the valuable farm land further upstream.

Due to historic rains in the Sierra Madre Mountains and subsequent overflowing at Lake Cachuma, a 100-year flood in mid-January 1969 picked up debris and trees in the normally dry riverbed and deposited it behind the bridge and barrier creating a dam. The bridge eventually tilted onto its side due to the immense pressure caused by the flood and debris. Before the Air Force could remove the bridge, a second 100-year flood occurred and caused more damage. The EOD was able to cut out a 60-foot section of the bridge in the span of a few hours to ease the flooding. Over the weekend, EOD severed more sections of the bridge for salvage and cleared out much of the trees and debris. A final flood washed many of the severed bridge sections out to sea and the bridge was never rebuilt.

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