Port of Hood River and Bulldog Welding crews have completed the semi-annual maintenance and repair welding to the steel grate deck of the Hood River-White Salmon Interstate Bridge. Helicopter service to overhead telecommunication lines will go forward as planned on Wednesday, November 17 with total closures of the bridge to all vehicle traffic from 9:00AM-9:30AM, 10:30AM-11:00AM, and 12:30PM-1:00PM. Motorists should seek alternate routes at these times. All other closures planned for November 18-24 have been cancelled.

For more information, contact the Port of Hood River via email to porthr@gorge.net.

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Bridge deck welding and overhead utility line service will require intermittent closures November 8-24

Semi-annual maintenance welding to the steel grate deck of the Hood River-White Salmon Interstate Bridge November 8-24 and helicopter service to repair overhead utility lines on November 10 will require intermittent closures of the bridge with the following schedule:

SINGLE LANE CLOSURES WITH FLAGGERS DIRECTING TRAFFIC – UPDATE

8:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. weekdays, November 8th through the 15th for the semi-annual maintenance and repair welding to the steel grate bridge deck. Flaggers will be on the bridge directing traffic around the moving work zone.

Motorists should expect delays of approximately 15-25 minutes throughout the day, depending on traffic volume.

The bridge’s narrow traffic lanes and lack of shoulders create a very compact work zone. Motorists are urged to drive slowly and with extreme caution for worker safety, and to avoid looking directly at the welding arc light as they pass the work shield.

There will be no closures on Thursday, November 11th in observance of the federal Veterans Day holiday.

UPDATE NOVEMBER 15 – This work has been completed ahead of schedule. All single lane closures planned for November 18-24 have been cancelled.

MULTIPLE 30-MINUTE FULL CLOSURES NOVEMBER 17 FOR HELICOPTER WORK

There will be three, 30-minute total closures of the bridge on Wednesday, November 17 for helicopter service to the overhead telecommunication utility line. Spectrum Pacific West crews and contractors will perform the helicopter service and the bridge will be closed to all vehicle traffic at 9:00-9:30 a.m., 10:30-11:00 a.m., and 12:30 – 1:00 p.m. This work was previously scheduled to take place November 10.

Motorists should seek alternate routes at these times. During each closure, access to the bridge will be closed at the signaled intersection OR Hwy 30 and E. Marina Drive in Oregon and at the Washington SR14 bridge onramp just west of Bingen, WA.

For more information, contact the Port of Hood River via email to porthr@gorge.net. 

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e Load Testing project on the Hood River-White Salmon Interstate bridge completed ahead of schedule at 9:15AM on Wednesday, October 20. All planned closures for October 20-24 have been cancelled.

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e live load testing on the Hood River-White Salmon Interstate Bridge continues this week, with single-lane closures planned all days. The full closures previously scheduled for Wednesday, October 20 have been cancelled. Motorists should still expect delays or use alternate routes during the hours of 7AM-5PM.

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The bridge will be closed to all traffic 10AM-11AM and 2PM-3PM
HOOD RIVER, ORE. – In response to the lowered load rating imposed by ODOT in March of 2021, the Port of Hood River has been conducting extensive live load testing on the Hood River-White Salmon Interstate Bridge since October 9. Test results will help determine if it is feasible to restore prior weight limit for larger commercial trucks and emergency vehicles.
On Wednesday, October 13, testing activities caused serious traffic backups on I-84 in Hood River and SR14 through Bingen as wireless communications of the testing equipment malfunctioned and extended the closure schedule.
Port bridge engineers and testing contractors have altered the testing schedule to eliminate one full day of testing closures and minimize traffic backups. The bridge will be fully closed to all traffic twice on Monday, October 18 for a one-hour period each closure. The first closure will occur at 10:00AM – 11:00AM and the second will take place 2:00PM – 3:00PM.
During both hour-long closures, access to the bridge will be closed at the signaled intersection OR Hwy 30 and E. Marina Drive in Oregon and at the Washington SR14 bridge onramp just west of Bingen, WA. Access will be provided for emergency vehicles conducting emergency response or transport.
There will be no full closures scheduled for Wednesday, October 20th.
For more information, contact the Port of Hood River via email to porthr@gorge.net.

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