Beverly, Washington — Railroad Bridge Became a Trail Bridge

The Milwaukee Road built a major bridge across the Columbia near Beverly for its transcontinental railroad.

Trains once carried passengers and freight high above the river between eastern and western Washington.

Then the railroad abandoned the route.

The old grade gradually became part of the Palouse to Cascades State Park Trail, but the closed bridge left an inconvenient Columbia-sized hole in the route.

That changed in 2022 when the rehabilitated Beverly Bridge reopened for trail use.

Locomotives gave way to bicycles and people on foot.

The surrounding community remains tied to irrigated agriculture and the river corridor.

The railroad stopped crossing the Columbia.

Its bridge found another reason to.