Covered Bridges

This area, Lane County,was the first Oregon County to build covered bridges on a large scale, west of the Mississippi. Early bridges used a truss and housing design provided by the Highway Department. During and after WW I, steel was in short supply but wood was plentiful, so the County kept on building them as the cost was so much less. There are 20 covered bridges in the area, 14 of them still open to traffic. From Eugene/Springfield we drove 16 miles east on State Highway 126 along the McKenzie River to the small Leaburg Dam near Vida where we drove through the Goodpasture Bridge over the river. What an incredible feeling. It felt like we should be driving with a horse and buggy. This bridge was constructed in 1938 for $13,000.00 (restored in 1987) and has a span of 165ft., the second longest in Oregon. It has the standard Housed Howe truss design with wonderful architectural detail including louvered gothic styled windows you can see along the sides and semi-elliptical portals. An interesting fact is that the country requires all bridges to have steel guardrails, so these are made in a square shape you see here and painted white, looking like the original wooden post type. I just loved being able to experience this covered bridge, a reminder of yester year.