Interstate (I-5) Bridge

Contemporary paddlers on the Columbia River get a perspective of the river that few travelers between Portland and Vancouver have had since the current northbound span of the Interstate Bridge opened in 1917. Before then people crossed in rowboats and ferries—within arm’s reach of the waters of the Great River rather than seventy feet above and well removed from them. When nearly 2,000 people had to wait for ferries to take them from Vancouver to the 1905 Portland World’s Fair, Vancouver’s mayor and residents decided it was time to build a bridge across the river.

After several years of cajoling by Vancouver business interests, Portland agreed and construction began in 1915. The bridge opened on Valentine’s Day 1917 and 'the great [Pacific] Highway became an unbroken artery of commerce, extending from British Columbia to the southern line of the United States.' At first only horse-drawn wagons paid the five-cent toll to cross the bridge. But by the time the states took title to the bridge in 1929 and the toll was dropped, fewer than a dozen horse crossings were made annually, with over two million automobile trips taking their place.

Over 20,000 vehicles per day crossed the bridge by the early 1950s and the states considered alternatives for increasing capacity. A second, nearly identical span was finished in 1958, and after renovation of the first structure, each span carried one-way traffic across the Columbia starting in 1960. The second span was built with a 'hunchback' to allow more ships to pass without having to raise the bridge, and the original structure was retrofitted to match.

Today the Oregon Department of Transportation maintains the bridge, the cost shared by both states. Approximately 138,000 vehicles cross the bridge each day, and despite restrictions on bridge lifts during the weekday rush hours, congestion on the bridge still raises commuters’ blood pressure. The states are presently considering alternatives for a new Columbia River crossing. Until then, travelers on the water trail can take solace in the relative solitude they’ll find on the water seventy feet below the madding crowd.