ALTERATIONS OF BRIDGES OVER COLUMBIA RIVER BETWEEN VANCOUVER, WASH., AND BONNEVILLE, OREG.

THURSDAY, JULY 1, 1937

UNITED STATES SENATE,

SUBCOMMITTEE ON BRIDGES, COMMITTEE ON COMMERCE,

Washington, D. C. The subcommittee met, pursuant to call, in the Commerce Committee room, Capitol Building, at 10:30 a. m., Senator Morris Sheppard presiding.

Present: Senator Sheppard (presiding).

Also present: Capt. L. D. Clay, assistant to the Chief of Engineers, War Department; and Mr. Herbert G. West, executive vice president, Inland Empire Waterways Association, Walla Walla, Wash.

Senator SHEPPARD. The subcommittee will come to order.

This is a hearing on the resolution adopted by the Senate Committee on Commerce on February 19, 1937, reading as follows:

Resolved by the Committee on Commerce of the United States Senate, That the Board of Engineers for Rivers and Harbors, created under section 3 of the River and Harbor Act, approved June 13, 1902, is hereby requested to review the report on Columbia River, between Vancouver, Washington, and Bonneville, Oregon, as it pertains to the subject of "Bridges" under the paragraph "Plan of Improvement" and in accordance with resolution adopted June 27, 1935; under the paragraphs "Discussion" and "Conclusions" set forth any circumstances in justification for the assumption by the United States of the whole or any part of the cost of such alterations; and, if such justification is established, definite recommendation with respect thereto will be included in the paragraph "Recommendations." The purpose and intent of this resolution being to set forth all facts in respect to the bridges in question that will serve to guide the committee in determination of an equitable adjustment of the cost of such alterations.

We will now hear from Mr. West.

STATEMENT OF HERBERT G. WEST, EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT, INLAND EMPIRE WATERWAYS ASSOCIATION, WALLA WALLA, WASH.

Senator SHEPPARD. Please state your name for the record.

Mr. WEST. Herbert G. West.

Senator SHEPPARD. Where do you live, Mr. West?

Mr. WEST. Walla Walla, Wash.

Senator SHEPPARD. What is your position?

Mr. WEST. I am executive vice president of the Inland Empire Waterways Association.

Senator SHEPPARD. You may proceed with your statement, Mr. West.

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Mr. WEST. I wish to make a brief statement setting forth some of the important factors and a short history of the two bridges under discussion.

Pursuant to the Senate resolution adopted February 19, 1937, by the Committee on Commerce, calling for a review of the report on the Columbia River between Vancouver, Wash., and Bonneville, Oreg., as it pertained to the subject of bridges, and in accordance with the resolution adopted June 27, 1935, Lt. Col. C. F. Williams, Corps of Engineers, district engineer, second Portland district, held a public hearing at the Chamber of Commerce Building, Portland, Oreg., March 26, 1937, in accordance with the notice of public hearing issued from the office of the district engineer on March 15, 1937.

Between Portland, Oreg., and Vancouver, Wash., and the confluence of the Columbia and Snake Rivers, a distance of approximately 225 miles, there are two fixed-span, highway toll bridges between the Bonneville Dam and The Dalles, Oreg., within the pool to be created by the dam.

The first Bridge, the Bridge of the Gods, was completed in 1929 at a cost of $480,000. It has a horizontal clearance between piers of 694 feet. Under present conditions the center clearance at low water is 146 feet, and at an average high water 102 feet. After the dam is constructed the vertical clearances will be about 90 and 78 feet, respectively?

The other bridge, located at Hood River, Oreg., was completed in 1924 at a cost of $600,000. It has a horizontal clearance between main-span piers of 250 feet. The present vertical clearance is 100 feet at low water and 64 feet at average high water.

After the dam is constructed the vertical clearance will be about 70 feet at low water and about 55 feet at average high water.

Reconstruction of these bridges will be necessary to provide vertical clearances of 135 feet at ordinary high water and horizontal clearances of 300 feet.

Quoting from district engineer's report on page 50, paragraph 123:

The Hood River Bridge was completed in 1924, and the Bridge of the Gods in 1929. Improvement of the Columbia River Channel to accommodate oceangoing vessels, with requirement of 135-foot clearance at ordinary high water, had not then been mentioned even as a possibility in any Government reports. The bridge owners exercised due diligence in providing in these structures proper clearances for modern barge navigation only. The cost of reconstruction to accommodate ocean-going ships should therefore be assessed against the benefits to be anticipated from the deeper channel and in equity should be borne by the Federal Government.

After the submission of all reports the division engineer made a further study of the necessary alterations to these bridges, and has been assisted in this study by the consulting engineer firm of Parsons, Clapp, Brinkerhoff & Douglas, of New York.

The cost of the alterations outlined and indicated on the drawings for the Bridge of the Gods is $550,000 for construction and engineering. The cost of the alterations outlined and indicated on the drawings for the Hood River-White Salmon Bridge is $340,000 for construction and engineering.

It was assumed that all work on the bridges would be done during 1937 and prior to filling the Bonneville pool. If the work must necessarily be delayed until after the pool is filled, the enlargement of