1991 WA-504 Hoffstadt Creek Bridge near St. Helens, WA

(Archived Bridge Hunter; no Historic Bridges; Highest Bridges; Satellite)

HighestBridges

370 feet high / 113 meters high

600 foot span / 183 meter span

1991

"Opened in 1991, the new highway was built to replace the original highway that was destroyed by the eruption of Mount Saint Helens in 1980. By taking an elevation high above the North Fork of the Toutle River, the new route 504 is safer from potential debris run off and flood damage. The continuous truss was built by erecting the outside spans of 332 feet (101 mtrs) on falsework and then cantilevering the central span of 600 feet (183 mtrs) from each side."

HighestBridges, Image by Eric Sakowski; also TripAdvisor, Crystal T, Oct 2020

These photos were taken from the viewing area that has the above plaque.

BridgeMeister
"The Hoffstadt Creek bridge is the longest of 14 along the new Spirit Lake Memorial Highway (the western approach to Mt. St. Helens)."
[The author points out the car on the bridge as an indication of scale. It also shows a rather low traffic density. Checking with BridgeHunter, the average daily traffic was 623 in 2012. That may be the lowest number I have ever seen.]

Phil Block posted

Hoffstasdt Creek Bridge

The bridge on State Route 504 is on the western edge of the Mt St Helens blast zone. “Blast Zone” is the polite way of saying if you cross this bridge and the mountain erupts you will be dead.  When you cross the bridge you’ll notice all the trees are the same type and same size as everything is new growth after the 1980 eruption.

Phil Block posted again

Hoffstadt Creek Bridge

It sits 370 feet [94m] above the creek.   As you’re headed East, towards the top of Mt St Helens , there’s a sign that says ENTERING BLAST ZONE which is a polite way of saying if the mountain erupts you’ll probably die. As soon as you cross the bridge you’ll notice all the trees are about the same size (age) as it’s new growth since the 1980 eruption.

Dave Harkema: I work at the bridge fabricator that built this bridge. It was Universal Structures Inc. located in Vancouver Washington.

we built several of the bridges up there.

MountStHellens, Photo courtesy of Terry Richard of The Oregonian
"Built in 1992 as part of the new highway to access the Volcano it was one of the keystones of the $200 million highway project."
[There are at least two cars on the bridge in this shot.]