The Hood River Bridge Closures Keep Moving. Here's What White Salmon's Crossing Looks Like This Fall.

Since late September, the overnight closures on the Hood River–White Salmon Bridge have been announced, moved, shortened, re-announced and finally shelved. On October 7, the Port of Hood River postponed the bridge's steel and coating maintenance "until further notice." It said the bridge would stay open during the hours it had planned to close it and that no new dates had been set.

The same notice included a promise that matters more than any of the canceled dates. When the work is rescheduled, the Port will give the public at least three weeks' advance notice. For anyone in White Salmon or Bingen who crosses before dawn, the date to watch now is when the Port posts a new schedule. The closure itself has to come at least 21 days after that.

Six Notices in Fifteen Days

The back-and-forth went fast enough that it's easy to lose track of which version you planned around. Here's the sequence as the Port posted it:

The first phase is the one part that went faster than planned. The Sept. 23 notice credited Wiss, Janney, Elstner Associates and the Port Facilities crew with finishing the mechanical and electrical work early. That made a daytime traffic impact and an overnight closure scheduled for that week unnecessary.

The Port's own notices don't say much about why the steel phase stalled. KOIN reported that the Port told the station its contractor "was unprepared to proceed reliably." According to KOIN, the Port chose to pause the schedule rather than keep announcing closures it would then have to cancel.

Doing the Math on Three Weeks

The three-week promise works as a floor, so you can work out the earliest possible restart. Count 21 days forward from whenever a new schedule is posted:

So if nothing new is on the Port's News & Alerts page by the time you read this, the overnight steel work can't close the bridge before mid-November. Any restart that slips into the holidays pushes the overnight phase into the dark, wet part of the year.

There's a second phase still waiting behind the first. The Sept. 23 and Oct. 2 schedules both said single-lane closures would follow the overnight work, with dates and times "still being confirmed." The Sept. 29 notice said those dates would be announced separately. The single-lane work can't start until the overnight work is done, so nothing about it can be scheduled yet either.

What the Three-Week Promise Doesn't Cover

The promise applies to the steel and coating maintenance. Other closures run on a different clock. The same Oct. 2 notice that announced the Oct. 7–23 schedule also closed the bridge completely on Tuesday, Oct. 6, from 9 to 10 a.m., so the Tug Granite Point could pass under a raised span. The Port told drivers to allow extra time for traffic to clear once the bridge reopened.

That lift was posted four days ahead, in the middle of a weekday morning, not overnight. Even in a quiet November, the bridge can still close with less warning than the maintenance work gets. The replacement project's overview describes the 1924 bridge as having "frequent closures due to aging design and safety issues."

The Crossing You Make Every Day

While the bridge stays open, the everyday costs of the crossing are steady, and they add up for anyone crossing regularly. The Port's posted rates for a passenger car or pickup are $3.50 cash or card and $1.75 with a BreezeBy transponder. Ten crossings in a workweek cost $35 without a transponder and $17.50 with one.

A few other posted rates and rules:

• Motorcycles: $3.00 cash or card, $1.50 BreezeBy.
• Car or pickup towing a trailer: $4.50 or $2.75 with a one-axle trailer, $5.25 or $3.50 with two axles, $7.00 or $5.25 with three.
• Transponders: Each vehicle needs its own, and they can't be moved between vehicles. Your first one is free, and additional standard decal transponders are $5.
• Speed: BreezeBy users should cross at 10 mph without stopping.
• Missed tolls: Unpaid crossings can be paid online within 14 days. After that, the invoice adds a $3 administrative fee per crossing, so a missed $3.50 car toll becomes $6.50.

The Port's FAQ mentions paying by cash, card or BreezeBy, while its bridge page describes all-electronic tolling with cash and check payments taken at the Port office or drop box. If you don't have a transponder, check the Port's toll page for current payment options before your next crossing.

The old bridge also has physical limits. It has a 14-foot-7-inch height limit and lanes 9 feet 4¾ inches wide, and it allows no overwidth loads. Special wide-load arrangements need a call more than 24 hours in advance, with flaggers and pilot cars. The Port asks drivers of large vehicles to fold in their mirrors. The bridge has no bike or pedestrian access, so walking or riding across to Hood River isn't possible.

When It Does Close, the Detour Is a Real Drive

When the overnight closures come back, the Port's notices will probably just say "use an alternate route," as the September and October versions did. The Port's FAQ gives distances to the two neighboring bridges, though it frames them as advice for large RVs:

1. Bridge of the Gods, to the west: 22.1 miles via I-84 or 24 miles via WA-14.
2. The Dalles Bridge, to the east: 23.7 miles via I-84 or 21.7 miles via WA-14.

From White Salmon, each detour means driving roughly 20 miles or more in each direction to a crossing that normally takes a few minutes. That's why the 21-day notice matters for anyone whose shift, flight or early appointment falls between midnight and 5:30 a.m. You'd have three weeks to plan, which is more warning than Gorge drivers got at any point in September.

The New Bridge Is Still on Paper

The replacement project's own published schedule puts construction no earlier than 2027.

The project has a federal Record of Decision, issued in November 2025, which ended its required environmental review. Kiewit is under contract as the progressive design-builder. The project page says design reached 60% "this summer" and that construction-ready plans will be finished in spring 2027. It also says the team is looking for the last federal funding it needs to begin construction in 2027.

Money is the open question. In an April 3, 2026 update, the Hood River–White Salmon Bridge Authority reported $588 million committed. That included $125 million each from Oregon and Washington and a $200 million federal INFRA grant. A separate $532 million application to the federal Bridge Investment Program was still under review, with a decision expected later in 2026. The Authority's project updates page is the place to watch for that decision.

The last field work along the White Salmon side was geotechnical drilling on SR 14 at Dock Grade Road and North Shore Drive, July 20–22. It brought shoulder and lane closures, lane shifts, flagging and some minor delays. That's about as much as the new bridge has affected daily driving so far. For the foreseeable future, crossing to Hood River means crossing the 1924 span, with its narrow lanes, raised-span lifts and maintenance that runs on the Port's three-week clock.

The bridge matters to how a White Salmon address works day to day. That's why we cover it in our White Salmon neighborhood guide and in our look at choosing between White Salmon and Hood River. If you're weighing a home on either side of the river and want to know how the crossing fits your commute, Chrissy & Brock Wood are happy to talk it through. Get your instant home valuation or schedule a complimentary consultation.