The Pengra Bridge is a
covered bridge
A covered bridge is a timber-truss bridge with a roof, decking, and siding, which in most covered bridges create an almost complete enclosure. The purpose of the covering is to protect the wooden structural members from the weather. Uncovered woo ...
near
Jasper
Jasper, an aggregate of microgranular quartz and/or cryptocrystalline chalcedony and other mineral phases, is an opaque, impure variety of silica, usually red, yellow, brown or green in color; and rarely blue. The common red color is due to ...
in the
U.S. state
In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...
of
Oregon
Oregon ( , ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is a part of the Western U.S., with the Columbia River delineating much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while t ...
.
The
Howe truss
A Howe truss is a truss bridge consisting of chords, verticals, and diagonals whose vertical members are in tension and whose diagonal members are in compression. The Howe truss was invented by William Howe in 1840, and was widely used as a brid ...
structure carries Place Road over
Fall Creek in
Lane County.
It replaced an earlier bridge, built in 1904, that crossed the creek a few feet further upstream.
Pengra Bridge was named in honor of
Byron J. Pengra, a government surveyor.
The bridge was listed on the
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...
in 1979.
[, at 17475 (March 18, 1980).]
The lower
chords
Chord or chords may refer to:
Art and music
* Chord (music), an aggregate of musical pitches sounded simultaneously
** Guitar chord, a chord played on a guitar, which has a particular tuning
* The Chords (British band), 1970s British mod ...
of the bridge, at by , are among the longest timbers ever used in an Oregon bridge.
Timbers of this size simplified some aspects of construction but required special techniques to finish and position at the site.
Other features of the bridge include ribbon windows under the
eaves
The eaves are the edges of the roof which overhang the face of a wall and, normally, project beyond the side of a building. The eaves form an overhang to throw water clear of the walls and may be highly decorated as part of an architectural sty ...
, a side window on one side, and semi-elliptical arched portals.
Weather and traffic weakened the bridge over time, and it was temporarily closed in 1979. With the help of state funding from the Oregon Covered Bridge Program, the county repaired the structure, which was re-opened to traffic in 1995.
See also
*
List of bridges documented by the Historic American Engineering Record in Oregon
*
*
List of Oregon covered bridges
This list of Oregon covered bridges contains the 51 historic covered bridges remaining in the U.S. state of Oregon.
Most covered bridges in Oregon were built between 1905 and 1925. At the height of their use, there were an estimated 450 covered ...
*
National Register of Historic Places listings in Lane County, Oregon
*
Pengra Pass rail route
References
External links
*
*
1938 establishments in Oregon
Bridges completed in 1938
Covered bridges on the National Register of Historic Places in Oregon
Covered bridges in Lane County, Oregon
Historic American Engineering Record in Oregon
National Register of Historic Places in Lane County, Oregon
Road bridges on the National Register of Historic Places in Oregon
Wooden bridges in Oregon
Howe truss bridges in the United States
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