Umatilla River Bridge
Information From Oregon Department of Transportation
From ODOT Determination of Eligibility and Scoping Forms
DESCRIPTION:
The Umatilla River Bridge (#00624A) is a three span reinforced concrete deck arch structure, located at MP 182.6 of the Columbia River Highway (US 730) in Umatilla County. Each span totals 110 feet, giving the bridge a total length of 438 feet, including three approach spans on either end. The approach spans have an arched façade, but are actually a beam and girder design. The attached drawings from 1924 and 1949 reflect the design detailing which is still evident today.
CONTEXT:
Measures of Rarity/Uniqueness/Distribution
Total number of type built prior to 1940: 50
Total number of type built 1941 to present: 2
Total number of type built prior to or during the year of subject bridge: 1
Total number of type that is longer: 0
Total number of type in same county: 0
SIGNIFICANCE:
The Umatilla (Duby) River Bridge (#00624A) is significant under Criterion C for its design solution authored by master bridge designer Conde B. McCullough. The deck arch design received a great deal of execution for the most notable bridge of Oregon in the middle of the 1920s. The bridge exemplifies a desire to provide an elegant crossing for expansive spans over 200 feet. It was one of two bridges of its type built in 1925 still standing (Fifteenmile Creek Bridge ##01095), and reflects a short period of design when bridges were classically detailed, borrowing from Italian/Roman precedent. While widened in 1949-1950 with the bridge widening, newly anointed Glenn S. Paxson (Conde B McCullough died in 1946) paid homage to the design by Conde replicating the original almost exactly. Whether by economy or reverence, or both, the only significant change was replacement of the classical railing with the newly minted steel picket rail and the smooth panels in the spandrels versus the exposed aggregate panels on the 1925 side. Thus all the detailing that was lost by the “gluing” of the two deck arch spans together was replicated. William Duby, for whom the bridge had been subsequently named, was a Oregon Transportation Commissioner from Baker County (1923-1927). It is likely that his service warranted, as was the case for many who served on the Commission, a naming of a bridge after them. It also was one of the notable bridges in eastern Oregon, and considering Duby hailed from Baker, it seemingly fits the bill. The Umatilla (Duby) River Bridge (#00624A) is a unique bridge in the cannon of Oregon’s bridges. It was a masterful creation by Oregon’s master bridge designer to span the Umatilla River in 1925 continuing one of Oregon’s famous Columbia River Highway. It was subsequently widened in 1950 by the recently appointed heir to Conde McCullough’s design throne and it explicitly reflected an era of bridge building long past. Therefore, ODOT submits this bridge is both a reflection of the design ideals of 1925 and by maintaining the original detailing 25 years later was the last of the era of deck arches until recently history. ODOT, on behalf of FHWA, recommends that the Umatilla (Duby) Bridge is considered eligible under Criterion C for its high artistic value, the work of two masters (McCullough and Paxson), and in how the design reflects the period of its original construction, and how the later period honored that 25 years later.
SITE LOCATION AND PROJECT DESCRIPTION:
The Umatilla River, Hwy 2 (Umatilla) Bridge (Br. #00624A), also known as the William Duby Bridge, was designed and constructed by C. B. McCullough in 1925. The bridge was highly modified during a bridge widening project done in 1951. The bridge is comprised on three 110-foot reinforced concrete deck arches with a total length of 439 feet. The bridge is located on the Columbia River Hwy (Hwy 2), US730, on 6th street in Umatilla. The west end of the bridge is at the intersection of US730 and Powerline Rd. (Co Rd #1125). This bridge was rated as “Functionally Obsolete” (structural sufficiency rating of 28.4) in February 2010. The bridge has a worn deck with a substantial spalling and exposed rebar on the underside, badly cracked reinforced concrete deck girders, concrete arches, and caps, and bad deck joints.
The purpose of the project is to improve structural deficiencies, including the following: deck repair or replacement, rail repair, repair or replacement of transverse and longitudinal deck joints, and repair to cracked beams, arch ribs and caps by epoxy injection. Bridge drainage will be improved as part of this project. Installation of new drainage curbs at the east end of the bridge will direct roadway runoff from the east end of the bridge. Inlets leading to riprap drainage basins will be used to capture and treat runoff from west end of the bridge. The riprap basins will be constructed on the bank slope under the west end of the bridge. ODOT will likely completed most of the bridge repairs for the bridge deck or from suspended scaffolding, but will access the bridge ends from underneath. Temporary access roads will likely be constructed to allow equipment access under the bridge ends.
Facts
- Overview
- Concrete arch bridge over Umatilla River on US 730 in Umatilla
- Location
- Umatilla, Umatilla County, Oregon
- Status
- Open to traffic
- Future prospects
- Slated for rehabilitation.
- History
- Built 1925; rehabilitated 1950
- Builders
- - Conde B. McCullough of Redfield, South Dakota (1925 Bridge Engineer)
- Glenn S. Paxson of Salem, Oregon (1950 Bridge Engineer)
- Design
- The Umatilla River Bridge is a three span reinforced concrete deck arch bridge built in 1925. The bridge was built under the guidance of State Bridge Engineer Conde B. McCullough and features many of the signature details from the era.
The bridge features three 110-foot reinforced concrete deck arch main spans flanked by six concrete deck girder approach spans, three on each approach.
The bridge was widened in 1950 under the watch of McCullough's replacement engineer Glenn S. Paxson. The widening replicated the original bridge with the exception of a new style of rail. The steel "picket fence" rail found today was vastly popular during the 1940' and 50's. - Dimensions
-
Length of largest span: 110.0 ft.
Total length: 431.5 ft.
Deck width: 30.2 ft.
- Recognition
- Eligible for the National Register of Historic Places
- Also called
- William Duby Bridge
- Approximate latitude, longitude
- +45.91556, -119.35222 (decimal degrees)
45°54'56" N, 119°21'08" W (degrees°minutes'seconds") - Approximate UTM coordinates
- 11/317586/5087355 (zone/easting/northing)
- Quadrangle map:
- Umatilla
- Average daily traffic (as of 2017)
- 7,900
- Inventory numbers
- OR 00624A (Oregon Dept. of Transportation structure number)
BH 30156 (Bridgehunter.com ID) - Inspection report (as of February 2018)
- Overall condition: Fair
Superstructure condition rating: Satisfactory (6 out of 9)
Substructure condition rating: Satisfactory (6 out of 9)
Deck condition rating: Satisfactory (6 out of 9)
Sufficiency rating: 48 (out of 100)
View more at BridgeReports.com
Update Log
- August 10, 2018: New photos from John Bernhisel
- April 7, 2018: New photos from Richard Doody
- January 12, 2018: Updated by Leslie R trick: Added category "US 30"
- August 29, 2017: New photos from Kyle Jarvis
- May 30, 2013: New photo from M. D. Caillet
- April 3, 2013: New Street View added by Mike Goff
- November 15, 2010: Essay added by Nathan Holth
- September 30, 2010: New photos from Michael Goff
Related Bridges
- UP - Umatilla River Bridge No. 2 (Upstream) - Nine modern bridges betweeen structures
Sources
- Mike Goff - michael [dot] goff [at] hotmail [dot] com
- Nathan Holth
- Elegant Arches, Soaring Spans - Robert W. Hadlow, Oregon State University Press, 2001
- Kyle Jarvis
- Leslie R Trick - Leslie [dot] Trick [at] gmail [dot] com
- Richard Doody
- John Bernhisel - Johnmbernhisel [at] gmail [dot] com
This page's URL is http://bridgehunter.com/or/umatilla/624A00218260/
Rumor has it that this bridge may be getting a facelift in the near future. I am not sure if funding has been established yet, but a rehabilitation project is defiantly being discussed.
Nice information Nathan, I am glad to see you keep up on this kind of data. I am hesitant to post any ODOT data due to my inside connection. After September 11th security with bridge plans and other information is pretty tight. I do not want to find myself in hot water over some plans of a lost bridge. It is all public information, but the rules are a little different when you’re “on the inside.”