Metaline Falls Bridge | |
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![]() Metaline Falls Bridge | |
Coordinates | 48°51′54.4″N117°22′23.4″W / 48.865111°N 117.373167°W |
Carries | ![]() |
Crosses | Pend Oreille River |
Locale | Metaline Falls, Washington |
Maintained by | Washington State Department of Transportation |
Characteristics | |
Design | Warren deck truss |
Total length | 696 feet (212 m) |
Width | 26 feet (8 m) |
Longest span | 240 feet (73 m) |
Clearance below | 20 feet (6 m) |
History | |
Opened | 1952 |
Location | |
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The Metaline Falls Bridge carries Washington State Route 31 over the Pend Oreille River in the extreme northeast corner of the state. Officially named the Pend Oreille Bridge, it provides access from the south to the town of Metaline Falls and the Boundary Dam. Completed in 1952, the bridge is a 696 feet (212 m) long and 26 feet (7.9 m) wide combination steel truss and concrete T-beam structure. Consisting of three main Warren deck truss spans, the longest of which is 240 feet (73 m), the bridge carries two lanes of traffic and a pedestrian walkway. [1]
The bridge is a key part of the Pacific Northwest Trail and the International Selkirk Loop, both of which attract many outdoor enthusiasts to the Metaline Falls area. Washington Rock, a favorite climbing venue in the region, is almost directly above the point where SR 31 turns southeast to enter the town which allows climbers to take almost vertical photos of the bridge. [2] Eligible to be placed on the National Register of Historic Places, WSDOT currently classifies the bridge as Functionally Obsolete, [3] The Federal Highway Administration using the National Bridge Inventory rating method, [4] gave the bridge an overall acceptable grade in 2017, with its lowest rating "Fair" for superstructure condition. [5]
Pend Oreille County is a county located in the northeast corner of the U.S. state of Washington, along the Canada–US border. As of the 2020 census, the population was 13,401. The county seat and largest city is Newport. The county was created out of Stevens County on March 1, 1911. It is the most recently formed of the state's 39 counties. It is named after the Pend d'Oreilles tribe, who in turn were ostensibly named for large shell earrings that members wore.
Ione is a town in Pend Oreille County, Washington, United States. The population was 428 at the 2020 census.
Metaline Falls is a town in Pend Oreille County, Washington, United States. The population was 272 at the 2020 census.
The Pend Oreille River is a tributary of the Columbia River, approximately 130 miles (209 km) long, in northern Idaho and northeastern Washington in the United States, as well as southeastern British Columbia in Canada. In its passage through British Columbia its name is spelled Pend-d'Oreille River. It drains a scenic area of the Rocky Mountains along the U.S.-Canada border on the east side of the Columbia. The river is sometimes defined as the lower part of the Clark Fork, which rises in western Montana. The river drains an area of 66,800 square kilometres (25,792 sq mi), mostly through the Clark Fork and its tributaries in western Montana and including a portion of the Flathead River in southeastern British Columbia. The full drainage basin of the river and its tributaries accounts for 43% of the entire Columbia River Basin above the confluence with the Columbia. The total area of the Pend Oreille basin is just under 10% of the entire 258,000-square-mile (670,000 km2) Columbia Basin. Box Canyon Dam is currently underway on a multimillion-dollar project for a fish ladder.
U.S. Route 195 (US 195) is a north–south United States Highway, of which all but 0.65 miles of its 94.02 miles are within the state of Washington. The highway starts in rural Idaho north of the city of Lewiston as a state highway in an interchange with US 95. As the road crosses into Washington it becomes a state highway that connects communities in the Palouse region of Eastern Washington. US 195 travels north, serving the cities of Pullman, Colfax and Rosalia in Whitman County before continuing into Spokane County to its terminus in the city of Spokane at an interchange with Interstate 90 (I-90).
The Interstate Bridge is a pair of nearly identical steel vertical-lift, Parker through-truss bridges that carry Interstate 5 traffic over the Columbia River between Vancouver, Washington and Portland, Oregon in the United States.
The Astoria–Megler Bridge is a steel cantilever through-truss bridge in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States that spans the lower Columbia River. It carries a section of U.S. Route 101 from Astoria, Oregon, to Point Ellice near Megler, Washington. Opened in 1966, it is the longest continuous truss bridge in North America.
The National Bridge Inventory (NBI) is a database, compiled by the Federal Highway Administration, with information on all bridges and tunnels in the United States that have roads passing above or below them. That is similar to the grade-crossing identifier number database, compiled by the Federal Railroad Administration, which identifies all railroad crossings. The bridge information includes the design of the bridge and the dimensions of the usable portion. The data is often used to analyze bridges and to judge their condition. The inventory is developed for the purpose of having a unified database for bridges to ensure the safety of the traveling public, as required by the Federal Aid Highway Act of 1968. It includes identification information, bridge types and specifications, operational conditions, bridge data including geometric data and functional description, and inspection data. Any bridge more than 20 ft long used for vehicular traffic is included.
The Stillwater Bridge is a vertical-lift bridge crossing the St. Croix River between Stillwater, Minnesota, and Houlton, Wisconsin. It formerly connected Minnesota State Highway 36 and Wisconsin Highway 64. Around 18,000 vehicles crossed the bridge daily. The new St. Croix Crossing bridge crossing the St. Croix river valley to the south of Stillwater replaced its purpose, having opened to highway traffic on August 2, 2017, leaving the Stillwater Lift Bridge to be preserved and to be converted to bicycle/pedestrian use.
The Colville National Forest is a U.S. National Forest located in northeastern Washington state. It is bordered on the west by the Okanogan–Wenatchee National Forest and the Kaniksu National Forest to the east. The forest also borders Little Pend Oreille National Wildlife Refuge and the Lake Roosevelt National Recreation Area.
The Pend Oreille Valley Railroad is a shortline railroad located in Usk, in northeast Washington.
State Route 31 (SR 31) is a Washington state highway located entirely in Pend Oreille County. The highway, which is 26.79 miles (43.11 km) long, starts at an intersection with SR 20 in Tiger and travels north to the Canada–US border north of Metaline Falls. At the border, SR 31 becomes British Columbia Highway 6 (BC 6). The route parallels the Pend Oreille River for most of its route and the primary functions of the highway is to serve and connect Tiger, Ione, Metaline and Metaline Falls with British Columbia.
Primary State Highway 6 (PSH 6) was a Washington state highway in the older primary and secondary system that existed from 1937 until 1964 in Spokane and Pend Oreille counties. The road ran from an intersection with PSH 3, U.S. Route 2 and US 395 in Spokane north to British Columbia Highway 6 (BC 6) at the Canada–US border near Metaline Falls, passing its branch route and two secondary routes.
State Route 223 (SR 223) is a 3.81-mile (6.13 km) long state highway located entirely in Yakima County, Washington, United States. It has served the role of connecting the city of Granger to the county seat, Yakima via Interstate 82 and to SR 22 since its establishment in 1967, serving between 4,000 and 8,500 cars per day on average in 2009.
The Forksville Covered Bridge is a Burr arch truss covered bridge over Loyalsock Creek in the borough of Forksville, Sullivan County, in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. It was built in 1850 and is 152 feet 11 inches (46.61 m) in length. The bridge was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980. The Forksville bridge is named for the borough it is in, which in turn is named for its location at the confluence or "forks" of the Little Loyalsock and Loyalsock Creeks.
The Beebe Bridge is a two-lane, steel through arch bridge crossing the Columbia River at Chelan Falls, Washington. Located three miles east of Lake Chelan, the bridge is part of U.S. Route 97 and averages 5000 vehicle crossings per day.
The Grand Coulee Bridge, or Columbia River Bridge at Grand Coulee Dam, is a through-cantilever steel truss bridge built in 1934–35. It carries State Route 155 across the Columbia River immediately below Grand Coulee Dam, near the city of Grand Coulee, Washington. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1982.
The Benton City – Kiona Bridge is a steel box girder and cable-stayed bridge carrying two lanes of Washington State Route 225 over the Yakima River in Benton City, Benton County, Washington. The current span was opened to traffic on July 4, 1957 and measures 400-foot-long (121.9 m) by 26-foot (7.8 m) wide. Two bridges had previously connected the cities of Benton City and Kiona before and were located 300 feet (91 m) downstream. The first bridge was open by 1901, and the immediate predecessor bridge was closed and torn down in 1964. The bridge is owned and maintained by the Washington State Department of Transportation, and was added to the Washington Heritage Register on January 25, 2002.
The Metaline Falls–Nelway Border Crossing connects the town of Metaline Falls, Washington with Nelway and Nelson, British Columbia at the Canada–US border. Access is via Washington State Route 31 on the American side and British Columbia Highway 6 on the Canadian side. This is the easternmost crossing in Washington.
The Idaho & Washington Northern Railroad was a shortline railroad that operated between McGuire's Idaho and Metaline Falls, WA. It was later purchased by the Milwaukee Road