Photo: Visitor7 / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0
The Yaquina Bay Bridge carries U.S. 101 over the mouth of Yaquina Bay and is the outline most people picture when they think of Newport. It opened in 1936, one of the last links in the Oregon Coast Highway, and it is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Keeping it in service in salt air is a long-running project for the Oregon Department of Transportation.
Salt, rain and steel
The bridge combines a steel arch over the shipping channel with concrete arches and approach spans on both sides. Salt spray gets into concrete and reaches the reinforcing steel inside, which rusts and expands, cracking the concrete from within. Coastal bridges in Oregon need regular inspection, patching and painting just to hold their condition.
A protective current
ODOT has used cathodic protection on its historic coast bridges, including the Yaquina Bay span. Crews remove damaged concrete, repair the steel and apply a thin coating of zinc that is connected to the reinforcing bars. The zinc corrodes in place of the steel, slowing the damage. The work is done in sections under containment, which is why scaffolding and wraps can stay on parts of the bridge for long stretches.
Traffic and detours
Because there is no other crossing near the bay mouth, most work is scheduled to keep traffic moving, often with lane restrictions, flaggers or night work. Pedestrians and cyclists sometimes face sidewalk closures. ODOT posts project notices and lane closures on TripCheck, its traveler information site, which is the most current source before a trip across.
Earthquake questions
Like most bridges of its era, the Yaquina Bay Bridge was not designed for a magnitude 9 Cascadia earthquake. ODOT’s long-range planning for seismic upgrades on U.S. 101 includes coastal crossings, though work on the coast competes with other priorities statewide. For the engineer who designed it, read our profile of Conde McCullough.
Silas Kerrigan covers business, the tourism economy and household finance in Lincoln County.
