Preserving The Legacy Of The Van Buren Bridge

The ODOT feedback survey...

Jul 14, 2026

www.corvallisnow.com

The new Van Buren Bridge is now carrying traffic across the river, but the life of the old bridge isn’t over yet. It was a historic bridge, and its legacy will live on. It’s actually federally required. By law.

(Photo: Oregon Department of Transportation, Justin R. Scalera, Photographer, HAER, September 2023)

The Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) is now asking the public to help decide how the historic 1913 bridge should be commemorated through a permanent exhibit. Residents can share their opinions through an online survey available here.

Because the Van Buren Bridge was determined eligible for the National Register of Historic Places, federal law requires ODOT and the Federal Highway Administration to mitigate the loss of the historic structure under Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act.

Rather than simply documenting the bridge, the agencies plan to create a public exhibit using original pieces salvaged from the original bridge.

Federal funding for the exhibit was included as part of the overall bridge replacement project. Final design and construction figures totaled $85,442,844 for the new bridge.

ODOT is leading the planning and construction effort in partnership with the City of Corvallis Parks and Recreation Department. Once completed, ownership and long-term maintenance of the exhibit will be transferred to the city.

ODOT is now asking residents to decide on two potential locations. This is actually a bit interesting.

The first option would place the exhibit between the new Van Buren Bridge and the remaining pedestrian bridge in Riverfront Park. That location sits close to where the historic bridge once crossed the Willamette River, and would create a small, but highly visible display for park visitors.

The second option would incorporate the exhibit into the future North Riverfront Park, located north of today’s Riverfront Park near the informal boat launch known as Michael’s Landing.

Have you heard of the North Riverfront Park project? Admittedly… we haven’t. Until now. We stumbled upon it while writing this article (that's often how things happen). We'll “inquire” about it (pun intended) and do a future write-up if we can get more information from the City. Anyways…

The exhibit would showcase several distinctive pieces saved from the original bridge.

Among them are the bridge’s two pony trusses, each roughly 60 feet long. While pony trusses were a common bridge design in the early 1900s, the Van Buren Bridge used them as part of a much larger truss system, making them an important piece of the bridge’s engineering story.

Another centerpiece would be the bridge’s turning mechanism, the massive gear assembly that once allowed the bridge’s swing span to rotate so boats could travel up and down the Willamette River. Measuring roughly 25 feet wide and 6 feet tall, it remains one of the bridge’s most distinctive surviving features.

Before it was replaced, it was one of only two remaining vehicular swing-span bridges in Oregon. ODOT hopes the new interpretive exhibit will ensure that memories of the bridge will not be forgotten. Public feedback collected through the survey will help determine how that story is ultimately told.

(Photo: The Corvallis Inquirer, July 4th, 2026)

This article was written by Derek S., a contributor to The Corvallis Inquirer. Feel free to send us your stories or articles to publish at: editor@corvallisnow.com