Oregon Coast Bridges

Portland preservationist Ray Allen has written a book about the many bridges of the Oregon Coast Highway. The coast has been a travel route for thousands of years, but it wasn't until the 1930's that a government-sponsored project to build five major bridges was completed, linking North and South, and changing the local economy forever. One man, engineer/architect Conde McCullough, was primarily responsible for the success of the project. Ray Allen talks about the beauty of McCullough's concrete arch bridges, and the challenge of building in remote, rugged locations. He enables us to compare this accomplishment with contemporary challenges such as the Columbia Crossing on Interstate 5.