I-5 between Eugene and Portland

[Tom958]

I have two questions: one big, one small. The big one: When was I-5 between Salem and Portland widened? And the smaller one: When were the bridges carrying I-5 between Albany and Salem replaced?

After a long hiatus, I'm putting together one of my much-maligned Streetview posts, this time about that particular stretch of I-5, which I'm finding way more interesting than I expected. Unfortunately, with the demise of bridgereports.com and bridgehunter.com, my resources for dating bridges are very limited, and I have little feel for Oregon's bridge design practices.

Any other fun facts about this stretch or Oregon freeway bridges would be appreciated, too.

[Bickendan]

The Santiam River bridge(s) were late 90s, I think. Best way to find out would be to drive down and look at the ODOT inventory/hwy tag at the bridge? I've no reason to drive down at the moment, however. 

[Bruce]

I have two questions: one big, one small. The big one: When was I-5 between Salem and Portland widened? And the smaller one: When were the bridges carrying I-5 between Albany and Salem replaced?

After a long hiatus, I'm putting together one of my much-maligned Streetview posts, this time about that particular stretch of I-5, which I'm finding way more interesting than I expected. Unfortunately, with the demise of bridgereports.com and bridgehunter.com, my resources for dating bridges are very limited, and I have little feel for Oregon's bridge design practices.

Any other fun facts about this stretch or Oregon freeway bridges would be appreciated, too.

Newspaper clippings are pretty helpful here. The stretch between Woodburn and Wilsonville was widened in 1973 but not completed until the following year due to strikes. The section into Salem was done a bit later in the decade.

The Santiam River bridge replacement was done in the 1990s, with the southbound bridge opening in 1992 and the northbound bridge opening in 1996ish. The old bridge was dramatically toppled in June 1994.

[Tom958]

Thanks, both of you! You've been very helpful.