The Kettle Falls Bridges is the collective name for a pair of steel cantilever

bridge A bridge is a structure built to span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or rail) without blocking the way underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, which is usually somethi ...

s carrying State Route 20/

U.S. Route 395 U.S. Route 395 (US 395) is a U.S. Route in the western United States. The southern terminus of the route is in the Mojave Desert at Interstate 15 near Hesperia. The northern terminus is at the Canada–US border near Laurier, where the road be ...

and the

Kettle Falls International Railway The Kettle Falls International Railway is a shortline railroad in the U.S. state of Washington and the Canadian province of British Columbia. This OmniTRAX subsidiary operates of track. Former operators The Chewelah– Waneta– Columbia Garde ...

across the

Columbia River The Columbia River (Upper Chinook: ' or '; Sahaptin: ''Nch’i-Wàna'' or ''Nchi wana''; Sinixt dialect'' '') is the largest river in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. The river rises in the Rocky Mountains of British Columbia, C ...

at Kettle Falls, Washington. The south bridge carries motor vehicle traffic while the similar northern span is used for rail.

History

On May 3, 1941, the Columbia River road bridge at Kettle Falls opened to traffic. Both bridges were constructed to replace bridges flooded by waters rising behind the

Grand Coulee Dam Grand Coulee Dam is a concrete gravity dam on the Columbia River in the U.S. state of Washington, built to produce hydroelectric power and provide irrigation water. Constructed between 1933 and 1942, Grand Coulee originally had two powerhous ...

to form

Franklin D. Roosevelt Lake Franklin D. Roosevelt Lake (also called Lake Roosevelt) is the reservoir created in 1941 by the impoundment of the Columbia River by the Grand Coulee Dam in Washington state. It is named for Franklin D. Roosevelt, who was president during the con ...

. The bridges are historically significant because they feature the longest central spans of any highway bridge built in Washington state during the 1940s. In 1995 the steel truss road bridge was added to the National Register of Historic Places.

Road bridge

The road bridge, with a total length of , was completed in 1941, replacing a 1929 steel deck truss bridge whose location was to be partly submerged by Lake Roosevelt as it backed up behind the new

. The bridge initially carried Primary State Highway 3, later designated

. The bridge is primarily a steel

cantilever A cantilever is a rigid structural element that extends horizontally and is supported at only one end. Typically it extends from a flat vertical surface such as a wall, to which it must be firmly attached. Like other structural elements, a canti ...

structure with an almost horizontal top chord and sloping bottom chords, designed to reduce the height of the concrete piers. Concrete T-beam approach spans are used, with unusual sloping concrete bets that serve to laterally brace the first piers supporting the steel structure against pressure of embankment fill. The central span is long, with cantilevered spans for a total span between piers of . Anchor spans are , with a east approach span and a west approach span. The two-lane bridge was the longest span to be built in Washington between 1941 and 1950. The bridge was designed by the Washington Department of Highways, R. W. Finke, designer, and was fabricated by the L. Romano Engineering Company of

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

. The project was financed by the

U.S. Bureau of Reclamation The Bureau of Reclamation, and formerly the United States Reclamation Service, is a federal agency under the U.S. Department of the Interior, which oversees water resource management, specifically as it applies to the oversight and opera ...

as part of the Grand Coulee project. The crossing was originally intended to be a single dual-use bridge, carrying the highway and the Great Northern Railroad, which also had to be relocated, but a joint contract could not be negotiated with the railroad, and a parallel rail crossing was built with similar construction. The Kettle Falls bridge is similar to the Grand Coulee Bridge, built in 1935, but with refinements to aesthetics by replacing the Coulee Bridge's laced channels with built-up punched channel bracing. The design was repeated on a larger scale at the

Northport Bridge The Northport Bridge spans the Columbia River near Northport, Washington, close to the border with Canada. The steel cantilever through-truss bridge replaced an 1897 timber bridge, and was opened in 1951. It carries Washington State Route 25. It ...

in 1948. The bridge opened on May 3, 1941. The old bridge was disassembled, except for its piers, that summer. The Kettle Falls road bridge was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

on March 28, 1995.

References

External links

* {{authority control Bridges over the Columbia River Transportation buildings and structures in Stevens County, Washington Road bridges on the National Register of Historic Places in Washington (state) Railroad bridges on the National Register of Historic Places in Washington (state) Bridges completed in 1941 Transportation buildings and structures in Ferry County, Washington Railroad bridges in Washington (state) U.S. Route 395 Bridges of the United States Numbered Highway System Historic American Engineering Record in Washington (state) National Register of Historic Places in Ferry County, Washington 1941 establishments in Washington (state) Steel bridges in the United States Cantilever bridges in the United States

History

Road bridge

See also

References

External links