Beverly, WA

Standing as a fitting centerpiece for the Palouse to Cascades Trail State Park, the Beverly Bridge offers visitors the ability to peacefully take in the Columbia River and its surrounding environment. This 3,000-foot-long former railroad bridge, built in 1909, now serves as a non-motorized pathway crossing America’s fourth-largest river.

In the early 20th century, the Pacific Extension of the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul & Pacific Railroad (also known as the Milwaukee Road) was constructed. It was abandoned in 1980, however, and the Beverly Bridge—with its associated right-of-way—was acquired by the state of Washington in lieu of back taxes. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1982, but otherwise remained derelict for decades. A 2014 wildfire even destroyed the wood decking that was still left on the bridge.

Meanwhile, the rest of the Milwaukee Road right-of-way was being repurposed as a “rails-to-trails” corridor open to non-motorized traffic, now called the Palouse to Cascades State Park Trail. The Beverly Bridge was called a “pivotal connection” between the east and west halves of the trail, and support grew for refurbishing it for non-motorized traffic. In the late 2010s, the Washington state legislature appropriated money for its reconstruction.

The bridge was reopened on April 8, 2022. The refurbishment included adding guardrails and a concrete deck consisting of prefabricated slabs.

Several overhanging viewpoints with benches over the Columbia River were also included in the refit. These highlight one of the most attractive features of the Beverly Bridge: its lack of motorized traffic. Here, you can sit on one of the benches, admire the contrast of the desert in the hills around Sentinel Gap downstream with the wide blue river, along with the additional incongruity of the agricultural developments here and there alongside the river. Or you can gaze upstream toward Wanapum Dam, with the edge of the Yakima Firing Range, all still desert, off to the west. Furthermore, the location of the Beverly Bridge, just downstream of Wanapum Dam, preserves much of the flavor of the undammed river, as the bridge is mostly upstream of the reservoir backed up by Priest Rapids Dam.