Yaquina Bay Park
Newport, Oregon Coast

3. Newport Bridge

This bridge across the Yaquina River allows traffic on US Highway 101 to cross.

Oregon's Department of Transportation has addressed rebar corrosion on the coastal bridges with a process called "Cathodic Protection." They build an enclosure and control the atmosphere within it. Sandblasting removes the damaged concrete and cleans the corroded rebar. They then repair the rebar and make it continuous before covering it with new concrete. Finally they paint a special zinc coating on the surface. They then pass an electrical current through the rebar. Engineers believe that this will cause the zinc coating to attract corrosive salts away from the rebar and protect the bridge. You can see a section of the bridge undergoing this work.