- City:
- Florence, OR
- Site Type:
- Infrastructure and Utilities, Roads, Bridges, and Tunnels
- New Deal Agencies:
- Public Works Funding, Work Relief Programs, Public Works Administration (PWA), Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC)
- Started:
- 1934
- Completed:
- 1936
- Designer:
- Conde B. McCullough
- Contractor:
- Mercer-Fraser Company
- Quality of Information:
- Very Good
- Marked:
- Yes
- Site Survival:
- Extant
Description
The bridge over the Siuslaw River at Florence OR was constructed with funding from the Public Works Administration (PWA) in 1934-36. It was one of five PWA-funded bridges over Alsea Bay, Coos Bay, Siuslaw River, Umpqua River, and Yaquina River that completed the Oregon Coast Highway. All but the Alsea River bridge still stand.
The coast highway was developed after 1914 by the state and county highway departments, but money ran out in the Great Depression before the job could be finished. With the advent of the New Deal, the PWA offered $1.4 million and a loan of $4.2 million – soon replaced by a state bond issue. The year after completion of the five bridges, coastal tourism in Oregon jumped by more than two-thirds.
The Siuslaw River Bridge is the smallest of the five PWA coastal bridges, but still well over 1,5oo feet long. It is built of reinforced concrete with a 140-foot, double-leaf bascule draw span at its center for shipping. The draw bridge is supported on four large concrete piers topped by Art Deco-style obelisks that house mechanical equipment as well as quarters for the bridge operator. The rest of the bridge is supported by two 150-foot concrete arches and double concrete piers the rest of the way to the banks of the Siuslaw.
The bridge originally had a wood-plank deck but deterioration from salt spray led to its replacement by a steel grid. The design of the central section is apparently the same as existed on the demolished Alsea Bay Bridge.
There are pedestrian sidewalks on both sides of the roadway, which are lined on the outside by railings with arched balustrades. The entrances at each end of the bridge are flanked by two concrete pylons with the same Art Deco sunburst design as the central pier housings and spires.
The HAER report on the Siuslaw River bridge summarizes the importance of the five PWA bridges:
“The Umpqua River Bridge is historically significant as one of the five Depression-era PWA bridges that connected the Oregon Coast Highway. The completion of these bridges is considered the dividing line between the period of relative isolation and dependence on sea transportation of Oregon’s southern coastal region to its modern era of land transportation and connection with the hinterland.
The Siuslaw River Bridge is the only one of the five PWA coastal bridges with a bascule span. The bridge is also representative of the innovative designs by State Bridge Engineer Conde B. McCullough, a pioneer in American concrete bridge design. The Siuslaw· River Bridge is an early example of McCullough’s use of tied arches and Considere-type hinges.”
The Siuslaw River bridge was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2005, along with the other four remaining PWA coast bridges.
Watch In Landscape Harmony: New Deal Bridges for the Oregon Coast about the construction of all five coastal Oregon bridges built to complete the Coast Highway (Highway 101), funded by the PWA. (8:15)
Source notes
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siuslaw_River_Bridge
Historic American Engineering Record (HAER) OR-58, Siuslaw River Bridge. 1992. (author Gary Link) https://tile.loc.gov/storage-services/master/pnp/habshaer/or/or0200/or0287/data/or0287data.pdf
Hadlow, Robert, Elegant Arches, Soaring Spans: C.B. McCullough, Oregon's Master Bridge Builder. Corvallis, OR: Oregon State University Press. 2001.
Joe R. Blakely. Lifting Oregon Out of the Mud: Building the Oregon Coast Highway. Wallowa, Oregon: Bear Creek Press, 2006.
Site originally submitted by Richard Walker on May 28, 2022.
Additional contributions by Judith Kenny.
Site Details
| Federal Cost | Local Cost | Total Cost | Site #s |
|---|---|---|---|
| $1,400,000 | $4,200,000 | $5,600,000 | PWA 984 (for all five bridges) |
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Jeff Saboda
Gabriel Milner
I was told my father, Stephen A. Saboda, worked in Florence for the CCC. I was wondering if there are any records/photographs from that time? He was injured while working. As I understand he was operating a hand crane and the he crank slipped back hitting him in the mouth. He woke up in a hospital having had most of his front teeth knocked out.
We don’t have any photos or records for this section of the CCC, but perhaps the city records may contain some.