Grays River Covered Bridge
Wahkiakum County, Grays River. Built 1905, covered 1908, restored 1989, 158 ft. long. Washington's only covered bridge still open to public highway traffic.
The Grays River Covered Bridge is the last of its kind in Washington still doing the job it was built for: carrying public highway traffic. Built in 1905 to let horse-and-wagon farm traffic cross the Grays River, the project owed its existence to Hans P. Ahlberg, a dairy farmer whose land spanned both banks of the river and who lobbied Wahkiakum County commissioners to authorize the crossing. The Astoria, Oregon firm of Ferguson & Huston built the Howe truss span directly on Ahlberg's property. It wasn't covered at first — the roof and siding were added three years later, in 1908, specifically to shield the expensive timber trusses from the region's relentless Pacific Northwest rain.
The one-lane bridge, 155.5 feet long and 14 feet wide, was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1971, recognition that helped set up its most significant chapter: a full restoration and reconstruction completed in 1988 by Dulin Construction of Centralia at a cost of nearly $296,000, followed by a public rededication ceremony on September 30, 1989. More than a century after Ahlberg first pushed for its construction, the Grays River Covered Bridge remains the only covered bridge left in Washington still carrying everyday public road traffic — a distinction none of the state's other, newer covered spans can claim.
