Umpqua River Bridge - Reedsport OR

City:: Reedsport, OR
Site Type:: Infrastructure and Utilities, Roads, Bridges, and Tunnels
New Deal Agencies:: Public Works Funding, Public Works Administration (PWA)
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 at the mouth of the Umpqua River at Reedsport OR was constructed with funding from the Public Works Administration (PWA) in 1934-36. It was one of five PWA-funded bridges across major rivers that completed the Oregon Coast Highway, four of which still stand. The coast highway had been developed since 1914 by the state and coastal counties, but money ran out in the Great Depression, until the PWA offered $1.4 million and a loan of $4.2 million (replaced by a state bond issue). (HAER 1992, p 2-4).

The Umpqua River bridge is over 2,200 feet long and includes a swing-span (to let ships through) flanked by double concrete arches and a long causeway over the southern shallows of the river. It has pedestrian walkways on both sides, concrete railings and obelisks flanking both approaches. It is the only swing-span bridge left in Oregon (Wikipedia).

The HAER report on the bridge summarizes its importance:

“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 Umpqua River Bridge is the only one of the five PWA coastal bridges to be constructed with a swing span. It is the longest swing span constructed in Oregon, and one of only a few left in the state. The bridge is also representative of the innovative designs by State Bridge Engineer Conde B. McCullough. McCullough was a pioneer in American concrete bridge design. The Umpqua River Bridge includes early examples of McCullough’s use of tied, or bowstring arches, and concrete arches constructed using Considere-type hinges.”

The bridge was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2005.

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)