Dorena Covered Bridge

The Dorena Bridge crosses the Row River near the upper end of Dorena Reservoir, close to the small community of Dorena east of Cottage Grove. Its construction followed the 1946 completion of Dorena Dam, which created the reservoir and required a new river crossing; Government Road along the reservoir's west bank was finished in 1949, and the 105-foot Howe truss bridge itself was built the following year at a cost of $16,547 under the supervision of Lane County bridge foreman Miller Sorenson. It was sometimes called the Star Bridge, since it provided access to the once-extensive Star Ranch. A concrete span bypassed the covered bridge for vehicle traffic in 1974, after which the structure was preserved as a pedestrian crossing; it was fumigated and given preservation work in 1987, and a more thorough $59,000 rehabilitation funded by the Oregon Covered Bridge Program in 1996 replaced the substructure and approach spans and created an adjoining wayside park. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places on November 29, 1979, the Dorena Bridge remains open and well maintained today. In 2026, after Lane County closed the nearby Currin and Stewart bridges over collapse risk, county officials specifically pointed visitors wanting to walk a covered bridge toward Dorena as the reliable, open alternative.