Astoria–Megler Bridge

Tourist No. 2, a ferry built in 1924, replaced by Tourist III in 1931

Ferry service between Astoria and the Washington side of the Columbia River began in 1926.[5] The Oregon Department of Transportation purchased the ferry service in 1946.[6] This ferry service did not operate during inclement weather and the half-hour travel time caused delays. In order to allow faster and more reliable crossings near the mouth of the river, a bridge was planned. The bridge was built jointly by the Oregon Department of Transportation and Washington State Department of Transportation.[7]

Construction on the structure began on November 5, 1962, and the concrete piers were cast at Tongue Point, four miles (6.5 km) upriver. The steel structure was built in segments at Vancouver, Washington, ninety miles (140 km) upriver, then barged downstream where hydraulic jacks lifted them into place.[8] The bridge opened to traffic on July 29, 1966, marking the completion of U.S. Route 101 and becoming the seventh major bridge built by Oregon in the 1950s–1960s; ferry service ended the night before.[9] On August 27, 1966, Governors Mark Hatfield of Oregon and Dan Evans of Washington dedicated the bridge by cutting a ceremonial ribbon. The four-day ceremony was celebrated by 30,000 attendees who participated in parades, drives, and a marathon boat race from Portland to Astoria.[10] The cost of the project was $24 million, equivalent to $155 million in 2021 dollars, and was paid for by tolls that were removed on December 24, 1993, more than two years early.[3]

Looking west over Astoria in 1986

The bridge is 21,474 feet (4 mi; 6,545 m) in length[11] and carries one lane of traffic in each direction. The cantilever-span section, which is closest to the Oregon side, is 2,468 feet (752 m) long,[11][12] and its main (central) span measures 1,233 feet (376 m).[1] It was built to withstand 150 mph (240 km/h) wind gusts and river water speeds of 9 mph (14 km/h).[4] As of 2004, an average of 7,100 vehicles per day used the Astoria–Megler Bridge.[13] Designed by William Adair Bugge (1900–1992), construction of the cantilever truss bridge was completed by the DeLong Corporation, the American Bridge Company, and Pomeroy Gerwick.[1]

The south end is at 46.187°N 123.854°W / 46.187; -123.854 (Astoria–Megler Bridge south end) beside what used to be the toll plaza, at the end of a 2,130-foot (650 m)[14] inclined ramp which forms a spiral bridge, going through a full 360-degree loop while gaining elevation over land to provide almost 200 feet (61 m) of clearance over the shipping channel (similarly to the Lincoln Tunnel Helix in Weehawken, New Jersey). The north end is at 46.241°N 123.875°W / 46.241; -123.875 (Astoria–Megler Bridge north end) and connects directly to SR 401 at an at-grade intersection. Since most of the northern portion of the bridge is over shallow, non-navigable water, it is low to the water.

Repainting the bridge was planned for May 2009 through 2011 and budgeted at $20 million, to be shared by the states of Oregon and Washington.[15] A four-year planned paint stripping and repainting project was planned for March 2012 through December 2016.[16]

Normally, only motor vehicles and bicycles are allowed on the bridge—not pedestrians.[17][18] There is no sidewalk and the shoulders are too narrow for pedestrians adjacent to 55-mile-per-hour (89 km/h) traffic. However, one day a year—usually in October—the bridge is host to the Great Columbia Crossing.[19][20] Participants are taken by shuttle to the Washington side, from where they run or walk to the Oregon side on a six-mile (9.7 km) route across the bridge. Motor traffic is allowed to use only one lane (of two lanes) and is advised to expect delays during the two-hour event. For the first time, during the 2018 event, the Oregon Department of Transportation announced that the bridge would be closed to motor traffic.[21]

The bridge itself is featured prominently in the movies Short Circuit, Kindergarten Cop, Free Willy 2: The Adventure Home and The Goonies. It stands in for the doomed fictional Madison Bridge in Irwin Allen's 1979 made-for-TV disaster movie The Night the Bridge Fell Down. Songwriter Sufjan Stevens most likely references the bridge in his song "Should Have Known Better" off his 2015 album Carrie & Lowell as a metaphor for dealing with his grief from the death of his mother.

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  View of the bridge from Astoria neighborhood.
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  On the bridge, heading north.
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  On the bridge, heading north.
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  Astoria Bridge. Close up view of the through-truss section of the bridge.
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  A close up view of the through-truss section of the bridge.
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  A view of the flat, continuous truss section of the bridge.
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  A workman's view from high on the bridge.
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  Washington end of the bridge.
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  A view of the bridge from the Astoria Column.
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  A cargo ship passing under the bridge.
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  Looking up from beneath the bridge.
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  Multiple cargo ships with the bridge in the background.

Panorama of the bridge, taken from Astoria, showing it reach across the Columbia towards Washington State.

•  Transport portal
•  Engineering portal
•  Oregon portal
•  United States portal
• List of bridges documented by the Historic American Engineering Record in Oregon
• List of bridges documented by the Historic American Engineering Record in Washington (state)
• List of bridges on U.S. Route 101 in Oregon

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Astoria-Megler Bridge.

• Historic American Engineering Record (HAER) No. OR-50, "Columbia River Gorge Bridge at Astoria, Spanning Columbia River at Oregon Coast Highway (U.S. Route 101), Astoria, Clatsop County, OR", 3 photos, 1 color transparency, 2 photo caption pages
• funbeach.com: Astoria–Megler Bridge
• oldoregon.com: Astoria–Megler Bridge
• Great Columbia Crossing