The Columbia River Interstate Bridge Commission.
The Commissioners of Multnomah County, Oregon.
The Commissioners of Clarke County, Washington.
Gentlemen:
The Columbia River Interstate Bridge between Vancouver, Washington, and Portland, Oregon, is completed and in service. We now respectfully submit our final report upon all the principal matters pertaining to its construction. Beginning with our report of March 26, 1914, recommending the adopted location of the bridge and its approaches, we have made many reports to you, including regular weekly reports showing the progress of the work included under each contract, monthly reports and estimates showing the amounts earned by each contractor, reports relating to tests and inspection of materials and workmanship, and various special reports on rights of way, franchises, operation, and similar matters. These are all in your files and available for reference; hence their details will not be repeated; but this report will be confined to the more important engineering and business features of the whole project, including your own actions.
The efficient and harmonious working of the Columbia River Interstate Bridge Commission has been largely responsible for the success and celerity with which the work has been carried out. Although composed of the Commissions of two counties situated in different states, having different laws and different interests, differing greatly in wealth and population, and contributing different sums of money, we have found the Commissioners, while jealous of the rights and tenacious of the prerogatives of the community each represented, always fair and reasonable and ready to find some common equable ground for adjusting differences so as to permit the work to go forward. The eminently satisfactory progress and conclusion of the work could not have been attained except for the promptness of the Commission in deciding the many questions presented, and for the unwavering firmness with which the Commission adhered to a position adopted or a policy determined. We have been highly gratified to have the Commission adopt, we believe without exception, our every recommendation.
The care and attention to detail which marked the execution of the design and other technical features are evident in the
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