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McMinnville Mayor Remy Drabkin (from left), Yamhill County Commissioner Kit Johnston, a McMinnville resident, and ODOT Construction Inspector Mark Winn cut the ribbon for the OR 18 Spur Bridge.
ODOT dedicates new McMinnville bridge, thanks community for patience and support
Newsrooms: Download photos and B roll of the event
News media contact: David House, 503-551-8641
Oct. 17, 2024
MCMINNVILLE – ODOT representatives, construction crews, and McMinnville and Yamhill Cunty community leaders gathered Wednesday, Oct. 16, to dedicate the new bridge over the South Yamhill River from OR 18 to Three Mile Lane.
“On behalf of ODOT, I just want to thank the city, the county and the community for your patience,” ODOT Area 3 Manager Anna Henson said. “We were under construction for three years, and I know that’s not without delays and hardship, but here we have a wider beautiful bridge to help accommodate larger trucks and pedestrians and cyclists safely.”
The bridge is a vital link between McMinnville and OR 18 southeast of the city that carries an average of 16,000 vehicles per day, and use by pedestrians and cyclists has grown over the years.
“I want to start by thanking ODOT and specifically all of the crews that are here today that have worked on this,” McMinnville Mayor Remy Drabkin said at the ceremony, “but also all of those construction teams that we saw working throughout the night and working in rough weather conditions, and have ushered this project through and have been very mindful of the community.”
The original 1951 bridge was 35 feet wide and supported by a wooden structure. We replaced it with a steel and concrete span that is 48 feet wide.
“A bridge like that was designed to last thirty to forty years, and I’d really like to give credit to the ODOT maintenance crews,” ODOT Bridge Engineer Paul Strauser said. “1951 to 2021 – that bridge lasted 70 years, and that’s twice as long as it was originally intended to last.”
Because this is a busy route, before demolishing the original bridge we built a temporary one along the east side to carry traffic until the new bridge was ready to open.
“One of the questions I hear the most is why does it take so long to build a bridge like this?” Wildish Project Manager Eric Holland said. “The answer is we built three bridges and we removed three bridges. We built a complete detour on the west side to get traffic off the alignment so we could demo the original bridge, and then we built a complete work bridge structure on the east side that was stout enough support all our cranes and equipment.”
The new bridge was ready to open to traffic in fall 2023. After removal of the detour and construction bridges this year, the last step in the project is restoration of the riverbank, including seeding. Some seeding began in fall 2024, and landscape work likely will continue into early 2025.
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