Eagle Creek Bridge
Description
The Eagle Creek Bridge was constructed in 1936 as part of a realignment project on the Historic Columbia River Highway (US 30). The project was built to straighten a notoriously crooked and narrow stretch of the highway around Tooth Rock.The previous alignment was carved out of the shear basalt cliffs of Tooth Rock and passed over two ravines via the Tooth Rock and Eagle Creek Viaducts. This narrow section of roadway was a mere 18-feet wide and thus needed to be widened to accommodate the larger vehicles being manufactured.
As part of the realignment the Tooth Rock Tunnel was blasted through Tooth Rock and created a need for a new bridge over Eagle Creek. The Oregon State Highway Department engineers under State Bride Engineer Conde B. McCullough designed an elegant three span steel tied arch bridge to accommodate the need. The design was similar to other steel tied arch bridges built during this era, such as the Winston Bridge over the South Umpqua River near Winston and the McLoughlin Bridge over the Clackamas River near Oregon City.
By 1969 the interstate era was upon the Columbia River Gorge and the 1936 Eagle Creek Bridge was replaced with a wider three span steel plate girder bridge. The new bridge uses the original 1936 piers, but the arches were removed to make way for the plate girders.
In 1970 the main 180-foot center span of the Eagle Creek Bridge was re-erected near Barton, Oregon in Clackamas County as part of the Barton Bridge on Bakers Ferry Road. The Barton Bridge was not constructed with the architectural treatments of the Eagle Creek Bridge, but still has some of the charm of an old tied arch bridge.
Facts
- Overview
- Lost steel tied arch bridge over Eagle Creek on US 30
- Location
- Multnomah County, Oregon
- Status
- Replaced by a steel plate girder bridge in 1969
- History
- Built 1936, Replaced 1969
- Builder
- - Conde B. McCullough of Redfield, South Dakota (Bridge Engineer)
- Design
- The Eagle Creek Bridge was a three span steel tied arch. The three spans measured 142-feet, 180-feet, and 142-feet. The bridge featured many of the design details utilized by State Bridge Engineer Conde B. McCullough, such as arched steel portal frames and architectural railing. The design is very similar to the Winston Bridge in Douglas County.
- Dimensions
-
Length of largest span: 180.0 ft.
Total length: 466.0 ft.
Deck width: 27.0 ft.
- Approximate latitude, longitude
- +45.64039, -121.93081 (decimal degrees)
45°38'25" N, 121°55'51" W (degrees°minutes'seconds") - Approximate UTM coordinates
- 10/583324/5054650 (zone/easting/northing)
- Quadrangle map:
- Bonneville Dam
- Inventory number
- BH 45564 (Bridgehunter.com ID)
Related Bridges
- Barton Bridge (Parts reused in)
Sources
- Mike Goff - michael [dot] goff [at] hotmail [dot] com
- Barton Bridge - Bridge where the center span was re-erected in 1970
- Elegant Arches, Soaring Spans - Robert W. Hadlow, Oregon State University Press, 2001
Comments
Please ignore my previous post, you are correct,I am wrong. I was thinking Winchester OR rather than Winston OR, I regret doubting your research and appreciate your great bridge site.
This steel three span bridge of 1936 is not similar to the bridge at Winston OR as stated. Winston is a multi span concrete deck arch, this is a steel through arch. This one is similar to a Conde bridge at Gladstone OR over the Clackamas River near it's confluence with the Willamette.
This page's URL is http://bridgehunter.com/or/multnomah/eagle-creek/
Kenn,
I appreciate your comments on this bridge. While you may have been quick to question the data, you still did. These types of questions always make for a better and more accurate site, plus I aways enjoy the challenge of checking my work. There are numerous impressive McCullough era structures around the state and it’s completely understandable to get a few of them confused.
Thanks for the comments,
Mike