Highway as a work of art

The old Columbia River Highway is an amazing feat of architecture. It was built in WWI days, completed in 1915 I believe, to open the Columbia Gorge to motor vehicle traffic. In those days cars were still rather a novelty, and auto travel was adventurous, new, and slow. The pace of life in general was slow compared to the present day. The highway was built over rough terrain and was painstakingly constructed to fit the contours of the land. Tunnels, bridges, viaducts, and even guard railings were built as works of art. Italian stonemasons constructed the railings, using a minimum of mortar. Almost a century later this stretch of road, buried in the forest and no longer used for vehicle traffic, is still elegant. It is now a fancy hiking and biking trail.

These columns forming a guard rail also have an Italian feel. This is actually a viaduct...the left side of the road is suspended well above ground level, and even the right side is not quite flush with the rock. As you can see the road was very narrow, just wide enough for two small old cars to pass each other. The fact that it was paved...in 1915...made it state of the art. But within about 20 years, with the advent of larger, faster cars and trucks, it was obsolete and a new gorge highway was gradually built, wider and less sinuous. By the 1950s the old highway was strictly a tourist road, and by the early 1960s a freeway was in place.

This stone masterpiece is a bridge over Eagle Creek on the old highway. They don't make bridges like this anymore...think about the intricate, prolonged labor it took to build this. Most likely the work of those Italian stonemasons.

The builders of the old highway even had pedestrians in mind! This little niche was constructed right next to the Eagle Creek bridge, most likely at the same time. You have a fine view of the creek and the bridge. The Old Sloat rested his flippers here for awhile, reading his book about two hitchhikers in Australia. If they were hitching here they no doubt would enjoy this spot too.