CASCADE LOCKS — For the first time, Cascade Locks Port commissioners learned which companies may have designed Bridge of the Gods’ lost architectural plans and built it in 1925.
David McCurry of Parsons Engineering shared his deep dive into the historical records at the port’s April 15 meeting.
After asking “five or six” historical archives, McCurry found aerial photographs at Oregon Historical Society, taken before the construction of dams in the Columbia.
One picture showed a sign, which read “Puget Sound Bridge & Dredging Co. Engineering-Construction.”
That’s an old company which built ships in both world wars, working on bridges and dredging when the conflicts ended.
McCurry went to Seattle to see the company’s physical records, and found historical images of the building of Bridge of the Gods in 1925, and a scrapbook of old articles on the various bridges this company built. “I’ve never seen these before,” McCurry said. In fact, nobody currently working on the bridge had seen them.
Another photo he obtained shows workers posing at the nearby Wallace Bridge and Structural Steel Company, where he believes the bridge may have been fabricated.
Knowledge of the bridge’s underwater condition remains limited. Historical information is contradictory and some of the old drawings McCurry does have, showing Army Corps of Engineers plans for raising the bridge in 1936, did not match what the existing bridge shows. He said this might be because workers sometimes had to change plans partway through if something didn’t pan out.
About 18.2% of the $6 million budget for Bridge of the Gods seismic studies had been spent, and almost a fifth of the work is done, McCurry said. Surveying and mapping above the water is complete, and Parsons is now using the info to analyze the bridge and its approaches. That data, including a 3D model, is also stored for any future projects.
Next are surveys of the riverbed and more than 30 drawings to replace the bridge’s lost 100-year-old construction plans — though McCurry said he’s still not given up hope of finding the originals.
Also on the crew’s list is boring into the remains of the Bonneville landslide, which supports one end of the bridge, to learn what it might do in a big earthquake. Such loose material “shakes a bit more than the bedrock” in a quake, he noted.
In other news, commissioners approved $254,386.15 in bills and payroll of $35,329.35 under the consent agenda.
Hood River commissioners, having approved the draft update to Hood River’s Natural Hazards Mitigation Plan, also need approval from each local district.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and Oregon Emergency Management require this update of the plan, and approved the new version. Grants from FEMA and the University of Oregon Partnership for Disaster Resilience funded updates from the county, local districts, Department of Forestry, U.S. Fish and Wildlife, Oregon State Fire Marshall, and all local fire agencies.
Commissioners present unanimously voted to accept the draft.