I have driven across Old Bend Bridge at least a bajillion times (at least), and I know a lot of readers have, too. So it was kind of interesting to read this article about attempts by the city of Pacific to organize a committee to try and have it replaced.
Good luck with that.
It’s not the bridge so much that would be the problem, it’s the approach – cutting a wider road on that cliff-like escarpment that the road manages to cling to (on the Pacific side) would cost so many millions of dollars I can’t see them getting the funding. And don’t forget that lovely 90° angle you have to make to actually get on the bridge – it’s an engineering nightmare.
Although Ed Hillhouse gives it the old college try with this political crock of a statement, “We still have what is basically a one-lane bridge with wooden trusses”. Uh, it’s a steel bridge Ed – no wooden trusses. Retard.
I kind of hope they just leave it alone – put the money into our schools, or a tax break (ha! unlikely).
Anyway, here’s a bunch of cool info and pictures of it from BridgeHunter.com š . BTW, one of the neat facts is the estimated traffic – 1600 cars a day (I can’t decide if that seems like too many or too little to be accurate).
