After participating in the First International Road Congress in Paris, and inspired by the roads that they saw in Western Europe, Samuel Hill, entrepreneur, and Samuel Lancaster, engineer, artfully created the Columbia River Highway, America's first scenic highway. The road is located in the Pacific Northwest, in the state of Oregon, and was completed from 1913 to 1922. It was a technical and civic achievement of its time, successfully mixing sensitivity to the magnificent landscape with ambitious engineering. There, one finds a strict adherence to grade and curve standards, comprehensive curb and drainage systems, dry and mortared masonry walls, reinforced-concrete bridges, and asphaltic concrete pavement. Completion of this highway greatly influenced the design and construction of other scenic highways, including national park roads, in the 1920s and 1930s. A new, water-level route bypassed the Columbia River Highway in the 1940s and 1950s. Muchof the old road became a tourist route. Other parts were abandoned or destroyed. By the 1980s, a populist movement took hold to restore and rehabilitate the Columbia River Highway and to reopen abandoned segments for bicycle/pedestrian use. The road and its many waterfalls and scenic vistas continue to attract visitors 90 years since it first opened. For the coveringabstract see ITRD E139491.
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