Middle Fork John Day River Bridge
Early this year I hired an experienced consultant in the local area to
work with the local, state and federal government agencies to pursue the
process of obtaining permission to install a bridge over the river in order
to obtain much more ideal and year-round access to all three of the parcels.
I attended one of the meetings where we met with individuals from the Oregon
Department of State Lands and the Oregon Scenic Waterways with the Oregon
Parks and Recreation Department.
Our objective at that meeting was to obtain their input on what would be the
most ideal site to install a bridge and I learned a lot about all the issues
that must be considered. Numerous potential sites were contemplated but
eventually it was boiled down to the two most feasible sites.
I chose to pursue the most likely site that also happened to
be right in the center of the middle parcel on the property. Thus, a road of
no more than 1/4 of a mile will be sufficient to reach all of the parcels of
land in this offering. It should also be possible to install what is known as
a rail car bridge, which is very affordable. A local contractor quoted me
$20,000 to $25,000 for the entire job.
The installation requires the construction of a concrete abutment on each
side of the river. They are a distance of 90 feet apart. This allows for a
decommissioned 96 foot railway flat car to be installed with a 3 foot overlap
on each abutment to secure it. There is a fairly limited weight capacity so
you wouldn't be able to cross it with heavy equipment but that's not a problem
because there is a low-water ford in the river very close to the bridge that
can be utilized into the road system. Of course, this limits when the river
can be crossed but it shouldn't be a frequent need. If it is, there certainly
isn't a reason stronger abutments and a sturdier bridge couldn't be installed.
I have included below the letter of approval to proceed with construction from
the Department of State Lands. In it you will see that the Army Corp of
Engineers must also pass off the project, which in general they follow suit
with the decisions of Oregon DSL. The county roadmaster has already given
verbal consent to our intentions as what we are doing is well within all of
their guidelines. It will also be necessary to get final approval with the
Scenic Waterways people. It is anticipated there will be no problem with them
since their decision maker has already met with us onsite and determined which
location was the most suitable. This is the site we submitted so there should
be no problems at all.
Oregon DSL Bridge Permission Letter
This is the full application that was sent to and approved by Oregon DSL:
Bridge App Page 1
Bridge App Page 2
Bridge App Page 3
Bridge App Page 4
Bridge App Page 5
Bridge App Page 6
Bridge App Page 7
Bridge App Page 8
Bridge App Attachment Page 1
Bridge App Attachment Page 2
Bridge App Attachment Page 3
Bridge App Attachment Page 4
Bridge App Map 1
Bridge App Map 2
Bridge App Map 3
Bridge App Map 4
Bridge App Pic 1
Bridge App Pic 2
Bridge App Pic 3
Bridge App Pic 4
Bridge App Pic 5
Bridge App Pic 6
Bridge App Pic 7