HOOD RIVER, Ore. — The Hood River Bridge is closed to all traffic following a crash involving a semi-truck that caused "severe damage" and impacted some of the bridge's structural beams on Thursday. 

The bridge is closed in both directions until further notice, according to the Washington State Department of Transportation Friday morning. Drivers looking to cross the Columbia River will need to detour to another bridge.

Engineers need to be able to assess the damage, according to a post on social media from the Port of Hood River, which operates the crossing. There is no estimated timeframe for reopening.

"So, about 10:15 this morning, we had a report of a semi-truck with a flatbed trailer bringing along an excavator and the arm had not been properly lowered on that trailer," Kevin Greenwood with the Port of Hood River recounted to KGW. "And so, the elbow basically cut through portions of six different lateral braces above the traveling."

Greenwood also said that once the port identified the issue, the bridge was immediately closed. Elected officials across multiple counties including Hood River were notified of the closure around 10:30 a.m.  

A message on the port's website said that engineers were expected to arrive shortly after 1:30 p.m. to begin inspections. The message specified that the damage is on the lift span at the center of the crossing, but the tweets and message don't include any other information about the circumstances of the truck crash.

"The nearest crossings across the Columbia River are The Dalles Bridge to the east and the Bridge of the Gods in Cascade Locks to the west," according to the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT). 

As for when the bridge will reopen, Greenwood said that the main priority is safety and that there are a number of components that must be considered before reopening the bridge. 

"There's just a lot of elements that the engineers need to do calculations on, before we feel comfortable opening the bridge again."

Greenwood mentioned that the bridge closure is a huge disruption not only to daily life for locals. But considering the Fourth of July holiday coming up, along with trucks of cherries trying to come through Hood River for processing. 

Both the Hood River Bridge and the Bridge of the Gods in Cascade Locks are owned by local government and the respective ports in each bridge's jurisdiction. The states of Oregon and Washington don't own or oversee these bridges.

The century-old bridge is the only river crossing for 20 miles in either direction, but it's extremely narrow by modern standards; port executive director Kevin Greenwood told KGW last year that the two lanes are so narrow that there have been previous incidents in which passing trucks have locked up mid-span, wedged together between the guardrails on either side.

A $520 million replacement project for the Hood River Bridge is in the works, with construction planned to start in early 2026 and the new bridge set to open in 2029.

This is a developing story and will be updated as more information becomes available.

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