Community celebrates
Rock Point Bridge rehabilitation Members of four southern Oregon historic car clubs, in their Model A Fords, braved the rain for the ‘official’ crossing to commemorate the reopening of Rock Point Bridge.
A parade of antique cars from throughout the Rogue Valley cruised across the newly rehabilitated Rock Point Bridge, marking the successful completion of the yearlong construction project. Nearly a hundred people, including Miss Oregon Stephenie Steers, attended the celebration, held at the entrance of Del Rio Vineyard on the rainy, threatening afternoon of October 28.
Rock Point Bridge, a notable feature on the popular Rogue-Umpqua Scenic Byway, reopened in October. “The success of this project was built upon our teamwork with Wildish Standard Paving and the local businesses and agencies,” said ODOT Area Manager Art Anderson. “We kept our promise to the community while maintaining the bridge’s beauty and making it safe and functional for future generations.”
Originally part of the old Pacific Highway, the historic arched bridge The success of this spans the Rogue River northwest project was built upon of Gold Hill and is our teamwork with a key connector that links InterWildish Standard Paving state 5 traffic to and the local businesses tourism-related businesses like the and agencies. Del Rio Vineyard and the House of ODOT Area Manager Art Anderson Mystery.
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The Rock Point Bridge was designed by Conde B. McCullough, a pioneer of the movement to create a wellplanned American highway system. McCullough illustrated how form could complement function and the nearby landscape. Using a reinforced concrete deck arch, he designed a 505-foot span bridge over one of the rockiest sections of the Rogue River, hence the name Rock Point.
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The $3.9 million rehabilitation project targeted the bridge’s damaged deck and side rails as well as cracked concrete beneath the bridge. Prime contractor Wildish Standard Paving of Eugene used rebar-enforced concrete to replace the bridge’s original concrete rails and urn-shaped balusters and applied a new bridge deck to the nearly 90-year old historic structure.
According to Historic Highway Bridges of Oregon, construction was a challenge: “Because of the great depth of water at the bridge location, it was odotmovingahead.com
November 12, 2010
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