Columbia River Bridges

The Interstate Bridge (below) is actually a pair of nearly identical steel vertical lift, through-truss bridges that carry Interstate 5 traffic over the Columbia River between Vancouver, Washington, and Portland, Oregon. The northbound span was opened in 1917 for two-way traffic, and the southbound span was added in 1958, and now carries three lanes in both directions. More photos...  
 
 
  The Glenn L. Jackson Memorial Bridge (above), or I-205 bridge, is a segmental bridge that spans the Columbia River between eastern Vancouver, Washington and Portland, Oregon. It is a twin structure with four lanes in each direction and a 9-ft wide bicycle and pedestrian path in between, which opened for traffic in December 1982. More photos...

Columbia River Bridge Crossings, 1961 - 2030

Historical average month and average day traffic data volumes, across the Interstate Bridge (I-5) and the Glenn Jackson Bridge (I-205), collected over the period 1961 through present are used to perform a linear projection forward to volumes anticipated should current trends continue. Actual data is shown below graph.

Historical Crossings Graph

Crossing Data, 1961 - 2008

A good indicator of change to bi-state travel is the amount of vehicle travel across the Columbia River Bridges between Vancouver, Washington and Portland, Oregon. Daily bridge traffic volumes have been maintained at Columbia River bridges since 1961. The Interstate Bridge carried approximately 33,500 vehicles a day in 1961. Volumes had increased to over 108,000 vehicles a day by 1980. With the opening of the Glenn Jackson Bridge in late-1982, total Columbia River crossings had increased to 144,000 vehicles a day by 1985. By 1995, total river crossings had more than doubled compared to 1980 with 222,700 crossings.

The Interstate Bridge had reached capacity during peak hours in the early 1990's. Glenn Jackson Bridge traffic volumes began to exceed the Interstate Bridge traffic volumes on a daily basis in 1999. Interstate Bridge traffic volumes began to decrease, beginning in 2006, as the corridor became saturated through much of the day. Total bridge crossings have declined twice since 1961, in 1974 and 2008. The Glenn Jackson Bridge had its first decline ever in vehicle volumes in 2008.

 
Year 		Average Weekday Crossings Annual
Growth Rate
I-5 I-205 Total
1961 33,537   33,537 NA
1962 36,156   36,156 7.2%
1963 36,263   36,263 0.3%
1964 38,324   38,324 5.4%
1965 41,446   41,446 7.5%
1966 45,755   45,755 9.4%
1967 56,757   56,757 19.4%
1968 60,615   60,615 6.4%
1969 64,248   64,248 5.7%
1970 69,151   69,151 7.1%
1971 73,089   73,089 5.4%
1972 77,845   77,845 6.1%
1973 83,038   83,038 6.3%
1974 81,297   81,297 -2.1%
1975 87,255   87,255 6.8%
1976 93,644   93,644 6.8%
1977 97,247   97,247 3.7%
1978 108,033   108,033 10.0%
1979 108,273   108,273 0.2%
1980 108,616   108,616 0.3%
1981 109,676   109,676 1.0%
1982 109,786   109,786 0.1%
1983 89,331 38,412 127,743 14.1%
1984 89,963 46,036 135,999 6.1%
1985 91,367 52,600 143,967 5.5%
1986 92,645 61,613 154,258 6.7%
1987 96,685 68,325 165,010 6.5%
1988 93,812 73,048 166,860 1.1%
1989 92,999 82,812 175,811 5.1%
1990 95,378 87,105 182,483 3.7%
1991 101,190 89,437 190,627 4.3%
1992 107,579 92,979 200,558 5.0%
1993 110,288 93,748 204,036 1.7%
1994 112,988 101,562 214,550 4.9%
1995 116,589 106,103 222,692 3.7%
1996 118,558 113,293 231,851 4.0%
1997 120,644 123,165 243,809 4.9%
1998 124,516 127,568 252,084 3.3%
1999 126,589 130,761 257,350 2.0%
2000 126,903 132,159 259,062 0.7%
2001 125,652 138,664 264,316 2.0%
2002 128,162 141,860 270,022 2.1%
2003 129,657 142,300 271,957 0.7%
2004 130,279 143,358 273,637 0.2%
2005 132,603 145,927 278,530 1.8%
2006 131,916 146,127 278,043 -0.2%
2007 130,389 146,606 276,995 -0.4%
2008 126,278 141,661 267,939 -3.4%
Source: Oregon Department of Transportation 

See Also

Columbia River Bridge Crossings
Hourly, I-5
Hourly, I-205
All-Time Records