The 1938 Goodpasture Covered Bridge spans the McKenzie River near the community of Vida in Lane County, Oregon. It is the second-longest covered bridge and one of the most photographed covered bridges in Oregon. It was named for Benjamin Franklin Goodpasture, a pioneer farmer who had settled near the bridge site. At 165 feet (50 m) long, it cost $13,154 to build.

Lane County was the first Oregon county to build covered bridges on a large scale. Today, Lane County has more surviving covered bridges than any other county west of the Mississippi River, with a total of 17 bridges, including 14 that are still open to traffic. The county's engineering division maintains the covered bridges that are open to traffic, including Goodpasture Bridge.

Over time, bridge traffic significantly weakened the bridge’s structure, and in 1987, county officials decided to restore the original covered bridge instead of bypassing it with a modern concrete span. The county spent $750,000 to renovate the bridge structure, road surface, and approaches. The project also added a right-turn lane for traffic exiting Oregon Route 126 onto the bridge and built a concrete retaining wall along the north bank of the McKenzie River to stabilize the area. Today, the Goodpasture Bridge handles a normal load of traffic, including logging trucks.

In 2005, the Lane County Public Works Department began issuing a series of 17 commemorative coins to honor the county's covered bridges. Income from coin sales is used to help maintain the historic bridges. The first coin, struck in the fall of 2005, honored Goodpasture Bridge. The remaining sixteen coins were released at a rate of two per year.

In 2010, Lane County reported receiving $2 million in a federal transportation grant to repair the bridge and raise its derated load limit from 15 short tons (14 t) back to 40 short tons (36 t) beginning in 2012.

The Goodpasture Bridge was designed by the Oregon State Highway Department (now the Oregon Department of Transportation) and was built by Lane County. A.C. Striker was the county bridge superintendent at the time of its construction.

Goodpasture’s deck is 17.7 feet (5.4 m) wide with a vertical clearance of 15.3 feet (4.7 m). The bridge's two foundation tiers are concrete, and its wooden floor planks and Howe truss infrastructure are protected by its weatherboard housing.

Most of Oregon's covered bridges, including the Goodpasture Bridge, were built using the Howe truss system, developed in 1840 by the Massachusetts architect William Howe. The system uses heavy timbers reinforced with iron or steel rods. The trusses have central beams and crossed timbers with adjustable, vertical iron rods to support the structural load.

The Goodpasture Bridge is one of the most photographed bridges in the state of Oregon due to its architectural design, which includes false end beams, semi-elliptical portals, and ten Gothic-style louvered windows on each side. The windows were built to allow light in so drivers could see oncoming traffic. During the Christmas season, the bridge is hung with decorations, attracting many winter visitors.

The Goodpasture Bridge was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979.

Located at:  N44 08.896   W122 35.256      -      WGCB #37-20-10

Photographed in May of 2025

Photos by Millard Farmer