Eagle Creek Highway Bridge
From Oregon Hikers Field Guide
- Hikes including this location:
- Weather forecast: NWS/NOAA
- Maps: Oregon Hikers Maps Google Maps
- Latitude, Longitude: 45.64108, -121.92822
- Elevation: 80 feet
Description
The original Columbia River Highway was filled with architectural marvels. In a world of viaducts and arched bridges, the bridge over over Eagle Creek isn't the longest or the highest. Like it's brethren, though, it has a grace that modern bridges often lack. When originally built in 1915, the stone walls extended eastward through the area now filled by the fish hatchery. The campground was built soon after the highway.
When Bonneville Dam was constructed in the 1930s, the Columbia River Highway was changed in this area. The big project, of course, was Tooth Rock Tunnel, west of here. To the east, the railroad was moved on to the original highway alignment and the highway was moved a bit farther south to make room. A new multi-span, through-arch concrete bridge was built over Eagle Creek. A private campground north of the highway disappeared under the new highway and railroad grades and a new viewpoint were created to the north. It's unclear if the old bridge was in use during this time period.
In the 1960s, further changes affected the area. The 1930s bridge was demolished to make way for a second set of highway lanes and with new bridges, and the Tooth Rock Tunnel route became the eastbound lanes of Interstate 80N, now called Interstate 84. New westbound freeway lanes were created on a free standing bridge skirting Tooth Rock. The original Eagle Creek Bridge was used as a freeway exit, creating access from the new grade to the Eagle Creek Campground and Cascade Fish Hatchery. In 1996, the original highway in this area was restored as the Historic Columbia River Highway State Trail. Since the bridge is still in use by automobiles, hikers need to take care.
On the west side of the bridge, a basalt-faced platform juts north so that visitors can view the creek, especially in the fall, when there are hundreds of spawning salmon. West of the observation platform, the trail continues as a sheltered shoulder of the freeway ramp for a short distance. Then a staircase connects the highway to the original highway grade. East of the bridge, the trail continues as a guarded shoulder skirting the fish hatchery until the original highway grade picks up again.
More Links
- "Eagle Creek, Oregon" (The Columbia River: A Photographic Journey)
- Eagle Creek Bridge (Bridgehunter.com)
- Eagle Creek History (Splintercat)
Contributors
- Stevefromdodge (creator)