Third biennial report of the Oregon State Highway Commission

In Short

This volume is a thorough administrative and engineering record detailing the efforts to build a modern road network across Oregon between late 1916 and late 1918. Written by state officials and engineers, it chronicles the financial, logistical, and physical challenges of surveying hundreds of miles of terrain, laying down macadam and pavement, and constructing durable bridges. It captures a pivotal moment when local county road systems were unified into a state and federal network. The document endures as an essential primary resource on early twentieth-century American infrastructure, civil engineering, and regional public policy.

The Story

The record opens during a moment of intense transition and external pressure. As the United States enters World War I, the State Highway Department faces acute shortages of labor, skyrocketing costs for raw materials, inadequate rail transportation, and strict wartime regulations imposed by the federal government. Public sentiment during the war often leans against non-essential construction, forcing state officials to justify their operations as vital to national infrastructure.

Despite these headwinds, the Commission establishes a systematic framework to manage state, federal, and county funds. It initiates comprehensive engineering surveys across rural and mountainous terrain, laying the groundwork for major thoroughfares like the Pacific Highway, the Columbia River Highway, and the Central Oregon Highway. Rather than halting progress entirely, the Department pivots to essential preliminary tasks—surveying nine hundred miles of proposed routes, designing dozens of bridges, and completing critical grading projects that can immediately accept gravel or rock bases.

As the narrative moves through Oregon’s diverse topography, it details the engineering feats required to overcome physical obstacles. Engineers build concrete half-viaducts and cribbing to stabilize dangerous slide areas along steep hillsides like Prescott Hill. Elsewhere, contractors erect timber Howe trusses, concrete arches, and massive steel structures across major rivers such as the Willamette and John Day. When private contractors struggle with wartime labor shortfalls—leading to delayed projects like the paving between Astoria and Svensen—the Department steps in directly, taking over operations via force-account labor and day-labor teams to ensure roads remain passable through harsh winter rainy seasons.

The work culminates in a detailed accounting of thousands of completed miles, newly authorized county bond issues, and cooperative agreements with the Federal Government under early federal-aid road acts. The record closes with forward-looking engineering plans for the post-war era, anticipating an immediate boom in automobile ownership and regional commerce once wartime restrictions lift.

How It Unfolds

The wartime burden The Commission outlines the severe economic and administrative hurdles created by World War I, including inflated wages, material scarcity, and federal restrictions on non-military construction. To prevent total paralysis, officials shift focus toward long-term planning, field surveys, and securing federal matching funds.

Financing the network State leaders detail the complex ledger system used to blend state revenues, county bond funds, and federal appropriations. They recommend administrative reforms, such as creating a revolving payroll fund to ensure prompt payment for day laborers on remote construction crews.

Taming the terrain Engineers tackle extreme topographical challenges across the state by building retaining walls, reinforced concrete cribbing, and expansive bridges. On steep hillsides prone to landslides, crews construct specialized half-viaducts to prevent roadbeds from eroding into river canyons.

Contractors and force account When private firms flounder under labor shortages or early autumn rains, the Highway Department assumes direct control of critical jobs. Using state-managed crews, engineers place crushed rock bases to keep vital transit links open through winter mud.

Connecting the counties The focus expands to cover individual county projects from the coastal counties to eastern high-desert routes. Comprehensive mapping and surveying align local roads into unified trunk highways, setting up a continuous highway system for future post-war expansion.

The People

• S. Benson (Chairman): A prominent champion of Oregon’s road system who seeks to accelerate state connectivity; when public funds fall short, he personally advances over twenty thousand dollars of his own money to grade key links along the Columbia River Highway before receiving legislative reimbursement.
• Herbert Nunn (State Highway Engineer): The chief executive officer on the ground whose primary aim is to maintain construction standards despite severe wartime interference; he pushes his engineering staff through harsh weather to ensure plans meet rigorous federal specifications.
• The County Courts and Local Officials: Local civic leaders who must balance regional needs against tight budgets; they work to pass local bond measures and sign cooperative agreements with the state to fund grading, paving, and bridge work in their respective districts.
• The War-Era Laborers and Contractors: The workforce and private firms struggling against severe labor scarcity, early winter rains, and rising costs; they adapt by utilizing steam shovels on steep side-hills and shifting from asphalt paving to winter rock placement when supplies run dry.

In Its Own Voice

"During the last year public sentiment has been opposed to the prosecution of construction work and the restrictions imposed by the Federal Government have prevented the undertaking of any extensive program of road improvement."

— The State Highway Engineer summaries the immense administrative obstacles created by World War I.

"A reinforced concrete crib forty-one feet long, fifteen feet high and seven feet wide was built and filled with large rock."

— A technical detail illustrating the innovative engineering solutions used to stabilize precarious cliffside highways.

"An asphaltic wearing surface three and one-half inches thick effectively waterproofs the wood, and the small interstices between the pieces will allow sufficient circulation of air to preclude any possibility of attack of dry rot."

— A description of the specialized timber-and-asphalt decking designed for major river bridges.

What It's Really About

At its core, this report is about the modernization of a rural state and the professionalization of public infrastructure engineering. It documents the transition from isolated, dirt wagon tracks—impassable for three-quarters of the year—to engineered, all-weather arterial routes. The text wrestles with the challenge of centralizing authority, demonstrating how state coordination and standardized engineering practices replace fragmented local efforts. It also reflects the broader social impact of the early automobile age, tracking how the explosive growth of motor vehicle registration forced governments to re-examine public finance, material sciences, and regional planning.

Why Read It Today

This document will fascinate local historians, historical geographers, and civil engineers interested in early twentieth-century public works. Reading it feels like looking over the shoulder of the surveyors who carved out modern regional transit routes through virgin forest and high desert.

The report offers an authentic, unadorned glimpse into the sheer labor required to build modern infrastructure. Readers should be prepared for an unapologetically technical format: dense financial ledgers, unit-price cost breakdowns, timber dimensions, and precise geographical surveys dominate the text. Yet within these cold figures lies a vivid picture of a state building its future under wartime constraints. It leaves you with a deep appreciation for the hidden engineering heritage beneath modern asphalt.