The Richard Odabashian Olds Station Bridge crosses the Columbia River on the north side of the Wenatchee-East Wenatchee area. The area to the northwest of the confluence of the Wenatchee and Columbia Rivers is called Olds Station. The Obidasian Bridge begins at Olds Station and heads east. When the bridge first opened to traffic in 1975, only two lanes of the four lanes were used. Within a few years, the approach roads were widened to four lanes and all lanes of the bridge were put into use.
US 2 has crossed the bridge since 1975. Before the Obidasian Bridge was completed, US 2 crossed the Columbia River south of downtowns Wenatchee and East Wenatchee on a 1950 vintage four lane bridge. The 1950 bridge is now part of SR 285. The Obidasian Bridge shortened US 2 by 7 miles. US 97 was added to the Obidasian Bridge in 1987 when US 97 was switched to the watergrade route from Olds Station to Hugo. The bridge was named for Richard Odabashian in 1991 by the State Transportation Commission. Mr. Odabashian had been a member of the Commission for 12 years and had seved as Commission Chairman part of that time. The pedestrian-bicycle path on the downstream side of the bridge was widened circa 2001 by cantilevering the path off the side of the bridge.
The photo was taken from the SE side of the bridge in May 2003.
Interstate Routes
US Routes
State Routes
Primary State Hwys
Secondary State Hwys
Home Page
