‘On time and under budget:’ Multnomah County celebrates reopening of Stark Street Bridge

Published 2:33 pm Monday, March 10, 2025

There was an informal betting pool made one evening up at the Historic Springdale Pub after a night of burgers and beers: How long would it really take to repair the Stark Street Bridge?

Last fall a crash into the stone retaining wall at the north approach proved to be the straw that broke the span’s back, as decades of careless driving led to the collapse of the supporting structure.

Multnomah County road crews leapt into action to repair this important connector, which links the Columbia River Gorge and the Historic Columbia River Highway with East Multnomah County.

Despite that quick response, there was plenty of good-natured disbelief from the community — government projects aren’t supposed to go smoothly.

But six months later the county celebrated the reopening of the bridge, on time and under budget (cheers to the two people up at the pub who correctly made the guess).

“Thank you to the community for your patience these last few months,” said Multnomah County Commissioner Vince Jones-Dixon. “There are few alternate routes, so this closure had a significant impact.”

The Stark Street Bridge was officially reopened Thursday, March 6, and the celebratory gathering was held Monday afternoon, March 10.

“I’m beyond excited to be here — I knew we had to host a party even if it meant closing the bridge again for a few hours,” Jones-Dixon said with a laugh.

The emergency repair project cost about $1.9 million. The contractor was Goodfellow Brothers Inc., which worked alongside subcontractors through the winter to complete the project. The Oregon Department of Transportation, State Historic Preservation Office, and U.S. Forest Service were also contributors in making the project go smoothly.

“When we work together we can get things done,” Jones-Dixon said.

Focused rebuild

The bridge, which was built in 1914, officially closed on Sept. 17 after its supporting stone wall partially collapsed, leaving it unsafe for motor vehicles.

The damage was caused by a series of crashes over the past decade that weakened the supporting wall — community members in the Gorge said the strikes happened at least monthly. The county also discovered 6- to 8-inch holes in the bridge deck, and that the opposite side retaining wall was also in danger of collapse.

Multnomah County quickly began work on the bridge.

They secured an under-deck unit to fix the holes, and had the contractor begin rebuilding the wall. That entailed a massive undertaking, including completely excavating the eastern approach to the bridge. That is where one snag slowed the process, crews hit sandstone which required special equipment to dig through.

They had to remove that ledge, and install fencing to stop boulders and soil from falling into the river.

“There are still a lot of repairs needed to make this bridge usable for many years to come,” said Sara Jeffrey, project manager.

That could be more closures in the future, especially if the ultimate goal of a complete rebuild is ever feasible.

But for now folks are reveling in the festivities surrounding the reopening, especially those most impacted by the closure.

It wasn’t just commuters who had to deal with a longer trip to get where they were going, but neighbors on those sleepy Gorge roads who had folks blitzing by at all hours of the day — East Woodard Road was one of the most impacted.

The city of Troutdale also saw a huge crush of folks resorting to using the Troutdale Bridge, down by Glenn Otto Park, often ignoring the 25-mile-per-hour and 20-mile-per-hour signs posted around Downtown.

“I was almost hit multiple times in crosswalks by people not used to driving through Troutdale,” said City Manager Ray Young.

“We are all glad this project is finished,” added Councilor Glenn White, who lives near the park.

The one thing Councilor White will miss was the cabbage truck that would cruise along the route with the Stark Street Bridge being closed.

“When it would hit that bump at the bridge a couple cabbages would go tumbling off — I was getting free vegetables all winter,” he said with a laugh.

There was another betting pool made by our friends up at the Springdale Pub: How long would it take for someone to hit the new retaining wall. Sadly the answer was much shorter.

Sunday, March 9, just days after reopening, a semi-truck pulling a 53-foot trailer crunched into the newly built wall. Flabbergasted neighbors watched, and attempted to help direct, as the driver backed up, and restruck the wall multiple times in an effort to get back on the Historic Highway.

One hit down and the wall holds.