Signage for overvisited Calif. landmark switched by prankster

On the heels of Monterey County banning drivers from parking near one of California’s most famous landmarks, a mysterious prankster has attempted to shoo tourists away from Big Sur’s Bixby Bridge, switching the landmark’s signs with that of another lesser-known bridge and leaving a sticker with a clever warning.

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Over the Fourth of July weekend, someone swapped the signs for the Bixby Bridge and the nearby Granite Canyon Bridge, both located along Highway 1 through Big Sur and about 5 miles apart, KSBW-TV reported. The cheeky prankster also left a sticker on the Granite Canyon Bridge sign (now located at the site of the Bixby Bridge) that reads “get over your selfie.”

The sticker likely refers to tourists who suddenly pull over or even put their vehicle in park in the middle of the highway to jump out and get a photo looking at or over the Bixby Bridge. This national landmark offers panoramic views of the Pacific Ocean. 

“The bridge is beautiful, but the parking is always full and the view is obscured by the people taking selfies,” Reno D from San Jose said on Tripadvisor. “… Be careful when you drive by as the selfie people back right out into the road.”

Locals have long raised concerns about tourists who visit the bridge and create unsafe traffic conditions. Over Memorial Day weekend, the bridge was so crowded with parked cars that safety officials raised concerns about the bottleneck in the area. 

“What I experienced at the Bixby Bridge, it scared me because I knew at that point a fire engine actually could not make it through,” Sean Edwards, a captain with Cal Fire, told KSBW-TV.

On May 19, the Monterey County Board of Supervisors voted to ban parking at the Bixby Bridge for one year. Three supervisors voted yes on the moratorium, while two abstained.

“It protects public safety and mitigates overuse,” Monterey County Supervisor Kate Daniels said at the meeting. “… I think that access is still available. No one is saying to anyone, ‘Do not come to Big Sur.’”