1965 WA-24 Vernita Bridge over Columbia River near Mattawa and Hanford, WA

(Archived Bridge Hunter; Historic Bridges; Satellite)

This 1,982' (604m) long bridge has a main span of 264' (80m).

Street View, Nov 2021

Historic Bridges
"The bridge is a late example of a metal truss bridge, and barely old enough to be considered historic. However, the bridge does stand out for its unusual false-continuous design. It also represents the end of the riveted truss era. Truss bridges built in the 60s like this bridge usually have details that show the decline in use of rivets and increase in the use of welds and bolts. What is unusual is that this bridge still used riveted connections, instead of bolted connections which are often found on 1960s bridges. In contrast, the built-up beams that compose the truss are welded, which is unusual since the built-up beams is one location where rivets are often still found on 1960s bridges."

It looks like one continuous truss span, but it is really three simple truss spans. Mark Bozanich's comment on BridgeHunter explains: "The Vernita Bridge was built with three simple trusses so that the center truss could be converted to a vertical lift span. There were plans at one time to build a dam downstream from Vernita and upstream from the Tri-Cities equipped with locks. The Columbia would thus be navigable at Vernita. The dam will not be built now that the dam site is part of the Hanford Reach National Monument."

In this photo we can see how the two piers for the middle span are wider. That was probably in anticipation of building the towers that would be needed to lift that span.

Darel Maden posted
Columbia River Central Washington

hwysofwastate
"The Vernita Bridge, opened to traffic in 1965, replaced a ferry a few miles upstream. Most of SR 24 from the bridge to Othello opened to traffic about the same time as the bridge. A toll was charged to cross the bridge for a few years. I think that the state ended up paying off the rest of the bonds from the state gas tax rather than tolls. The photo was taken in September 2001 from the rest area southwest of the bridge."
[This website has an index of the bridges and ferries across the Columbia River.]