January 30, 2023

May 19-22 For Wire Rope Replacement

HOOD RIVER, ORE. – The Hood River-White Salmon Interstate bridge will be closed to all traffic for four consecutive days, beginning at 12:01 a.m. the morning of Friday, May 19 through 11:59 p.m. the night of May 22. During this 96-hour period, crews from Hamilton Construction will remove and replace and adjust the tension in the wire ropes that support the counterweights. The work will include complete replacement and adjustment of the counterweight ropes. The work is not weather dependent and will be underway continuously round the clock during the entire closure.

“A recent inspection found that the ropes have worn to the point that replacement is warranted,” said Paul Bandlow, Principal and Unit Manager for bridge engineering firm Wiss, Janey, Elstner Associates, Inc. “While replacement is warranted, the existing ropes are not so badly worn as to affect the safe operation of the bridge or of the vehicles that pass over the bridge. Rather, replacing ropes is similar to the replacement of tires on a vehicle in that the idea is to replace the ropes prior to the ropes becoming a safety issue. This work is therefore being done to make sure the bridge remains safe for the people who rely on it.”        

Replacement of the ropes requires jacking the counterweights to unload the ropes, removing the existing ropes, installing new ropes and de-jacking the counterweight to allow the new ropes to support the counterweights. This work requires access to the roadway surface as well as other areas on the bridge and therefore the bridge will be closed to all vehicular traffic. The bridge will not be operational for marine traffic when the ropes are being replaced. The new ropes have a service life of at least 30 years.

The Port accepted a bid from Hamilton Construction in the amount of $1,119,250 for the project in October of 2022. Procurement activities immediately commenced, and the work schedule was finalized on January 26, 2023.  

During the months of March and April, there will be intermittent, single-lane closures of the bridge primarily during nighttime hours as Hamilton Construction crews work to prepare for the closure.

The Hood River-White Salmon Interstate Bridge is the only Columbia River crossing between Cascade Locks and The Dalles from I-84 in Oregon, a 42-mile distance. The tightly-knit communities on the Oregon and Washington sides of the river experience severe disruption during extended closures of any of the three Gorge bridges, as detours for regular daily commuters are 40 miles or more of additional driving. Resulting congestion on I-84, WA SR 14, and city streets near bridge approach ramps can be very heavy.

“Our bi-state region depends, utterly, on this bridge being open. It is not an overstatement to say the bridge is a literal lifeline for all of the local economies of the Gorge,” said Kevin Greenwood, Port of Hood River Executive Director. “The Port is committed to ensuring that this critical link in our region’s infrastructure remains unbroken. For that reason, we are working very hard with our partners in the Bi-State Working Group to raise the needed funding to replace the bridge, while continuing to invest in the repair and maintenance projects this 100-year-old steel structure requires of us.”

Originally constructed in 1924, the bridge is beyond its design life, obsolete, and insufficient for modern vehicle and marine freight. During a 3-day closure last year, the bridge replacement partners created a video describing the impacts of such closures and the urgent need for replacement funding, viewable here: https://vimeo.com/storygorge/hrbridgeclosure.

For more information, contact the Port of Hood River via email to info@portofhoodriver.com.