McCullough Memorial Bridge, Coos Bay

The Conde B. McCullough Memorial Bridge, formerly the Coos Bay Bridge (Coos language: Danisich), is a cantilever bridge that spans Coos Bay on U.S. Route 101 near North Bend, Oregon. It is one of a series of eleven major bridges on the Oregon Coast Highway that were designed under the supervision of Conde B. McCullough, replacing ferries that had formerly crossed the bay. The bridge is outstanding for its attention to form and detail, and has been placed on the National Register of Historic Places in recognition of its design and cultural and economic importance.
Work started on what was then called the Coos Bay Bridge on July 10, 1934. Glenn S. Paxson, Acting State Bridge Engineer while McCullough took a leave of absence to work on projects in Central America, was the supervising engineer during construction. The resident engineer was Raymond Archibald until 1935, when he joined McCullough, then Dexter R. Smith. The Northwest Roads Company of Portland, Oregon built the piers and the concrete structure. The steel sections of the bridge were built by the Virginia Bridge and Iron Company. The main piers are supported on piles driven into the bay's bed. The main towers of the cantilever section were fabricated off-site and moved to the bridge site in four sections. Work on the cantilever arms moved out in both directions from the tower, with the shoreward arm keeping slightly ahead of the center arm so that it would rest on a temporary support structure to stabilize the bridge. The concrete arch sections were erected using timber falsework. The bridge opened in June 1936.