8th Street Bridge Infrastructure Acceptance
A multi-year project has finally come to a close.
On Nov. 1, 2022, the Pendleton City Council unanimously accepted the infrastructure improvements on the 8th Street Bridge, three years after the primary bridge work was completed. With the vote, the City of Pendleton has now acknowledged ownership – jurisdiction – of the improvements completed in the project.
The 8th Street Bridge over the Umatilla River began as the Lee Street Grade Road Bridge in 1909. That bridge was repaired and renovated in the 1950s, but by 2001, a study showed the bridge had an extremely low sufficiency rating and needed to be replaced.
The historic bridge was 19-feet wide, too narrow for safe two-lane travel, had no pedestrian facilities, was load limited for freight, and did not meet flood free-board requirements for rolling debris during a flood.
In 2012, the City of Pendleton finally received a grant from the State of Oregon Local Highway Bridge Program to replace the 8th Street Bridge, and the total project was completed for more than $8.6 million in 2020.
The new bridge was built for future growth with two travel lanes and two bike lanes, separate pedestrian facilities, and improved lighting. The bridge addresses free span of the Umatilla River and has adequate freeboard for a base flood (100-year) event.
The new bridge was tested in its flood readiness shortly after substantial completion in November 2019 by heavy flooding in February 2020. That flood event was recorded as a 250-year event, and the bridge performed admirably, suffering only very minor damage.
A project of this size, including funding from the Oregon Department of Transportation, Umatilla County, and the City of Pendleton, requires multiple moving pieces and documentation. The final pieces of the puzzle were related to final costs. The substantial completion of the project in November 2019 was followed by one-year warranty work and Oregon Department of Transportation working through the final costs of the project using federal funding.
A complicated process came to a close on Nov. 1 with the Pendleton City Council vote to accept jurisdiction of the bridge infrastructure improvements, including the bridge itself, surrounding levee, and pedestrian, lighting, road, storm, water, and sewer improvements within 8th Street right-of-way.
