August 27 is the 56th anniversary of the opening of a new bridge (August 27, 1966). The Oregon State Highway Department (now the Oregon Department of Transportation) and the Washington State Highway Department collaborated on the Astoria-Megler Bridge (now the Washington State Department of Transportation).
The Astoria-Megler Bridge (also known as the Astoria Bridge and/or the Columbia River Bridge) is a truss bridge that connects the cities of Astoria, Oregon, with Point Ellice, Washington, across the Columbia River (located near the community of Megler, Washington).
History
The Columbia River is the largest river in North America, flowing into the Pacific Ocean. Only the Mississippi, St. Lawrence, and Mackenzie rivers discharge more on the continent. The Columbia River is one of the world’s most important producers of hydroelectric power; with its tributaries, it accounts for one-third of US hydropower.
Furthermore, its mouth serves as the first deepwater harbor north of San Francisco. Captain Robert Gray found the river’s entrance from the Pacific Ocean in 1792 and called it the Columbia after his ship. The ship was also the first in the United States to sail around the world. The discovery of Captain Gray served as the foundation for American claims to what became known as the Oregon Country (and then the Oregon and Washington territories). Follow this link to a recent FreightWaves Classics article to learn more about Columbia’s travels.
Astoria skipper “Fritz” Elving started building ferries to transport passengers and automobiles across Columbia to Megler in 1921. His fleet expanded as the number of automobiles increased, but it couldn’t keep up with rising demand. Ferry service was slow, and ferries did not cross the river when it was raining. Furthermore, when auto travel became more popular, the 30-minute commute generated huge traffic congestion.
There were calls to build a bridge by the 1930s, but it wasn’t until two decades later that the idea was seriously examined. Following World War II, the State of Oregon took over the operation of the ferry system in 1946, with operational control transferred to the State Highway Department.
Although the ferry service was controlled by the State of Oregon, the problems that plagued the privately owned enterprise persisted. When heavy weather struck, the ferry operation was disrupted, and traffic waiting to board the ferry caused traffic bottlenecks at times.
Long waits for the Astoria ferry service prompted bridge supporters to renew their fight during the summer of 1953. Two years later, the Port of Astoria released a design for the Astoria-Megler Bridge, and the $24 million fundraising effort began.
Oregon legislators approved the bridge’s construction in 1959, but a significant provision of the legislation required the state of Washington to split the bridge’s cost 50-50. Washington legislators responded with a 75-25 proposal, seeing little value in a bridge along the shore. According to The Oregonian newspaper, Oregon advocated tolling the bridge to pay construction costs. However, Washington lawmakers were opposed to tolling.
Despite overwhelming public backing, the bridge’s destiny remained uncertain as the 1960s began. The Oregonian stated in 1961, during a two-state legislative convention, that “a four-mile bridge to span the mouth of the Columbia River was as close to construction Saturday as it was when originally proposed nearly 30 years ago.”
Despite ongoing opposition from some, Astoria State Senator Dan Theil successfully led the legislative campaign for the bridge. The idea was finally approved by both states in 1962, with the building set to begin in November of that year.
Constructing the bridge
The bridge’s location is near where Columbia Bar pilots and river pilots swap control of commercial vessels. The Columbia Bar, often known as “the Graveyard of the Pacific,” is a chain of bars and shoals at the Columbia River’s mouth. The Columbia Bar is one of the world’s most perilous bar crossings. It has a width of three miles and a length of six miles. At the Columbia Bar, the Columbia River’s current dissipates into the Pacific Ocean, frequently as enormous standing waves. The waves are created in part by silt deposits when the river slows, as well as the mixing of river water with ocean waves. Waves, wind, and currents are all dangerous for vessels of all sizes.
Oregon’s Governor (and future U.S. Senator), Mark O. Hatfield, attended the bridge’s groundbreaking ceremony on August 6, 1962. On November 5, 1962, actual construction work began.
George Stevens, Ivan D. Merchant, and William A. Bugee planned and engineered the Astoria-Megler Bridge. DeLong Corporation, American Bridge Corporation, and Pomeroy Gerwick built the bridge.
The steel structure of the bridge was built in Vancouver, Washington, and its vast sections were barged down the Columbia River and raised into place using massive hydraulic jacks.
The bridge is divided into four sections from south to north: “the curved south/Astoria entrance ramp; the massive continuous main through truss spans; a low-level causeway; and finally a slightly elevated sequence of simple span through trusses at the northern/Megler end.” The causeway is the bridge’s longest portion, resulting in an exceptionally lengthy distance between the bridge’s two truss sections.
“Pre-stressed concrete beam spans, erected on concrete piers, located to avoid overloading the slide-prone Astoria hills,” according to the Astoria method. The approach ramp loops counter-clockwise 360 degrees, ascending about 200 feet above mean low water.”
For the bridge’s main span, which is closer to the Oregon side of the river, a cantilever truss design was chosen. The extensive causeway is located on the Washington State side of the bridge. The main span is a “2,468-foot-long steel cantilever through truss flanked by five steel deck trusses, 140 concrete deck girder spans” (each 80 feet long), and “seven 350-foot steel through truss spans at the Washington end of the bridge.”
The bridge was built to resist some of the most severe weather conditions imaginable; it has been battered by wind gusts of up to 150 miles per hour from violent Pacific storms that occasionally hammer the coast. Furthermore, the concrete piers were designed to withstand the Columbia River’s flood speed of nine miles per hour; at times, the raging water sweeps entire trees along the river, and several have clashed with the bridge’s piers.
The bridge is notable both historically and technologically, not just for its overall length but also for the length of its main span. Its three spans total 21,474 feet in length (or almost 4.1 miles). When it was finished in 1966, it was the world’s longest continuous-truss bridge. It is now North America’s longest continuous truss bridge.
The bridge’s dedication
On August 27, 1966, the Astoria-Megler Bridge was formally dedicated. The dedication ceremonies were attended by over 8,000 people on Saturday afternoon. Governors Mark Hatfield of Oregon and Dan Evans of Washington were among those in attendance for the festivities. To formally open the bridge, both governors, along with Miss Oregon (Lita Schiel) and Miss Washington (Sandra Lee Marth), cut a ribbon on a pair of swinging doors.
“It is a true representation of the Lower Columbia River’s greatness and a true tribute to people who imagined this dream and fulfilled an aspiration,” Hatfield stated at the ceremony. “It’s a response to the skeptics who mocked the idea from the start.”
Many people at the dedication ceremony chanted, “They claimed it couldn’t be done.” The bridge’s completion also bridged the final gap between Los Angeles and Washington’s Olympic Peninsula on US Highway 101.
The bridge cost $24 million to build (about $219.5 million today). In 1966, the toll was $1.50 per automobile. The bridge handled around 240,000 motor vehicles during the last five months of 1966, which was the quantity predicted for the entire year of 1967. By 1993, the bridge was carrying more than 1.6 million vehicles per year. Toll collection halted on December 24, 1993, when the bridge’s bonds were fully paid, due to its popularity. The repayment deadline was more than two years early than anticipated. That’s an impressive performance for a “bridge to nowhere.”
While there are no longer tolls to cross the Astoria-Megler , remnants of the toll booth on the Oregon side of the Columbia still remain on US 101. (Photo: doug/gribblenation.com)
The effect of the bridge
According to the Oregon Department of Transportation, the bridge’s yearly average daily traffic count in 2019 was over 9,000 cars crossing in both directions.
A variety of things have happened on the bridge. A kidnapping ended when a toll collector noticed a woman mouthing “Help Me” from the back of a vehicle. One driver set the bridge speed record of 159 mph, making him the fastest motorist ever recorded speeding anywhere by the Oregon State Police.
Since the fall of 1982, one lane of the Astoria-Megler Bridge has been closed for the Great Columbia Crossing 10K Run/Walk. In connection with the Great Columbia Crossing, Astoria hosts the Silver Salmon Celebration festival.
Astoria has also been a favorite site for advertisements, TV shows, and movies, with various car and truck television commercials, The Goonies, and Kindergarten Cop all taking place there. The Astoria-Megler Bridge was featured in the film Short Circuit, as the robot Number Five crosses the main span into Oregon.
