Three Bridges over Crooked River Canyon near Terrebonne, OR

1911 Railroad: (Bridge Hunter; HAER)

1926 Road: (Bridge Hunter; HAER)

2000 Road: (Bridge Hunter; HAER)  Rex T. Barber Bridge

(Satellite)

This location has become a history for arched bridge designs. In the background is the 1911 railroad bridge. In the middle is the 1926 road bridge. It became a pedestrian bridge in 2000 when the bridge in the foreground opened.

Gabe Shakour, Nov 2019

safe_image for Oregon’s Crooked River Bridge From Above (YouTube)

1911 BNSF/(Oregon Trunk Railway+GN) + UP Bridge

I was going to pass on this bridge until I learned that it is the highest railroad bridge in the United States. It was designed by Ralph Modjeski. [Bridge Hunter]

HAER ORE,9-TERBO,1--1
1. General view from southeast - Oregon Trunk Railroad Bridge, Spanning Crooked River at Oregon Trunk Railroad, Terrebonne, Deschutes County, OR

The OTR was a subsidiary of the Spokane, Portland and Seattle Railway. Along with the Great Northern, Jim Hill owned these railroads. OTR started building up the west side of the Deshutes river while Des Chutes Railroad, part of Ed Harriman's Union Pacific empire, started building up the east side of the river. Both railroads would have to cross a major tributary, Crooked River. "There was only one place where the cliffs on both sides were close enough to build a bridge. Jim Hill had obtained the rights to the location when his Oregon Trunk Railroad acquired the Central Oregon Railroad Company on December 1, 1909. The Central Oregon had laid no track and the rights to the bridge site were its principal asset. Hill's acquisition of the location forced Harriman to negotiate a settlement whereby the Oregon Trunk, Hill's railroad, would own almost the entire line from the Columbia to Bend but Harriman's company would have the right to use the track." [LinkFang]

Tom Runge posted
Dennis DeBruler: According to Bridge Hunter, this is the highest railroad bridge in the United States.

Dennis DeBruler

Was there a higher bridge in 1911 that has since been torn down? Because this source says it was the second highest when built.

"The bridge is 320 feet (98 m) above the river and when it was completed in 1911, it was the second-highest railroad bridge in the United States. It is a steel two-hinge arch span with a total length of 460 feet (140 m)."

https://en.linkfang.org/wiki/Crooked_River_Railroad_Bridge

[The comments discuss if this bridge was, in fact, the highest.]

Kristopher Loewen, Aug 2020

Darnell Sue, Jun 2019

Paul Gi posted
Crooked River Railroad bridge at Peter Skene Ogden State Park in Oregon. I took this photo in October of 2012.

safe_image for Crooked River Canyon Railroad Bridge Is Over 100 Years Old!
"Designed by famous bridge architect Ralph Modjeski....The bridge itself is 320 feet above the Crooked River and was completed in 1911 in about 4 months. Oddly enough, the need to get the trains going over the bridge was so intense that they started rail traffic across the bridge with only half of the required rivets installed to hold it together!...The bridge itself is a two-hinge arch span with a total length of 460 feet!"
[The article includes a 3:29 YouTube link.]

 

1 of several 1993 photos of the bridge and the canyon by Harold M

1926 Trail/US-97 Bridge 

As mentioned, this location was so good for building a bridge that Jim Hill and Ed Harriman fought for it. So when it came time to build US-97 through the area, this location was chosen for the bridge.

Street View
Note the railroad bridge in the left background. 

I'm so glad they preserved this bridge. Not only does it have an elegant truss, the portals have pylons.

Street View

Crooked River High Bridge was completed in 1926 as part of the Dalles-California Highway (U.S. 97). It was designed by State Bridge Engineer Conde B. McCuilough. The bridge is a single-span steel deck arch that is 464' long and 27' wide. The main span is 330' long and consists of a double-hinged braced spandrel deck arch. There are 134 feet of reinforced concrete approach spans. The railing is constructed of precast concrete arches, with a cast in place cap. The structure was one of the highest bridges in the United States, at 295' from deck to streambed, when it was constructed. A high line cableway was used in the erection of the structure, rather than a traveling derrick or hoist. [HAER-data]

HAER ORE,9-TERBO.V,1--2
2. Perspective view from southeast - Crooked River High Bridge, Spanning Crooked River Gorge at Dalles-California Highway, Terrebonne, Deschutes County, OR

2000 US-97 Rex T. Barber Bridge

Josh Schmid, Aug 2018 via Bridge Hunter, License: Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike (CC BY-SA)

HAER OR-152-10
GENERAL PERSPECTIVE VIEW OF THE REX T. BARBER BRIDGE AFTER COMPLETION, VIEW TO EAST. - Rex T. Barber Veterans Memorial Bridge, Spanning Crooked River Gorge, Dalles-California Highway (US 97), Terrebonne, Deschutes County, OR

Mike Goff comment on Bridge Hunter-2000, cropped
I was there inspecting the two highway bridges last month, it is a pretty awesome location.

I was surprised to see an HAER record for such a modern bridge. I think the record was made to document a new bridge building technique in the USA --- using temporary cable stays until the arch is closed rather than using falsework. That technique has now become common place for building an arch bridge in place. (A more common practice now is to build a tied-steel arch on shore and then float it into place.) An contemporary example of building an arch in place using temporary cable stays is the new I-74 bridges over the Mississippi River. [HAER-data, Bridge Hunter-2000]

DeBruler

HAER OR-152-1
TOPOGRAPHIC VIEW OF THE REX T. BARBER BRIDGE ARCH CONSTRUCTION, VIEW TO SOUTHEAST. - Rex T. Barber Veterans Memorial Bridge, Spanning Crooked River Gorge, Dalles-California Highway (US 97), Terrebonne, Deschutes County, OR

The contractor, Kiewit, also built the arch ribs as 15 segments using traveling formworks. That is, they used a horizontal version of what is called jump-form construction when building grain elevator silos. Jump-forms are also used to build the towers for cable-stay bridges and to build concrete skyscrapers.

HAER OR-152-5
ELEVATION VIEW OF THE REX T. BARBER BRIDGE ARCH CONSTRUCTION, VIEW TO NORTH.

The length of the boom on the concrete pumping truck struck me as awful long. Then I noticed that they used the cableway to hold an extension to get the needed length.

HAER OR-152-7
PERSPECTIVE VIEW OF THE REX T. BARBER BRIDGE DECK POUR, VIEW TO NORTHWEST SHOWING HIGH LINE SYSTEM.

After reading about the big 4-lane bridge built across the Mississippi River at Cape Giardeau, MO, I've started paying attention to the ratio of bridge cost per vehicle carried. The Missouri bridge was predicted to carry 26,000 vehicles per day by 2015, but it's 2018 usage was only 10,992. Bridge Hunter-2000 indicates this bridge is another big 4-lane bridge that carries only 10,000 vehicles per day.

Update:

Terence Fenton posted six photos with the comment: "Rex T. Barber Veteran Memorial Bridge (red), The Crooked River High Bridge (green), and The Trunk Railroad Bridge (black). All located at the Peter Skene Ogden State Scenic Viewpoint outside Terrebonne, OR."

1

2

3

4

5

6

Edward Collins posted four photos with the comment: "Old bridge, new bridge.  This is the crossing of US 97 over the Crooked River near Bend, Oregon.  The river is 300 feet down in a canyon."

1

2

3
Just downstream is the railroad crossing:

4
Nearby sign gives some background:
"It was the nation's highest single arch span when constructed."