At the time of the highway’s construction, however, the Oregon State Highway Department developed a two-rail wooden guardrail for use on this road and throughout the state’s highway system. It became a standard rail for the Bureau of Public Roads during the 1920s (see Figure #8).
By 1996, ODOT had developed and crash-tested a new two-rail steel-backed wooden guardrail for use on the driveable portions. It replicated the original two-rail wooden guard fence, but met a modern 50 mile-per-hour crash test.
Once the highway's road bed was completed, a wooden post-and-rail guardrail, treated with one heavy coat of white paint -- consisting of lead and zinc oxide in proportions of 3-1 and mixed with raw linseed oil and turpentine drier -- would eventually flank much of the entire highway.
"This type [of railing] was first used on the Columbia River Highway in places where a particularly substantial and artistic design was desired," reported the U. S. Department of Agriculture Department of Public Roads, "and one that would be less expensive than the stone fence constructed along parts of the highway."
The original guard rails -- or guard fences -- along the Columbia River Highway were installed in 1915. They consisted of two 3x8-inch timber rails, surfaced on four sides and spiked or drift-bolted to the posts. Initial bid prices ranged from sixty to one dollar per linear foot. Throughout the years, other styles of railings were introduced. They include the standard guard fence (1915), post and cable (1930s), the "C" rail (1930 and '40s) and the "W" rail (1940s and '50s).
The State Highway Department also used a standard arched masonry rail throughout the Columbia River Highway. There were variations to it's design -- most memorably seen near Crown Point and Multnomah Falls on the upper highway -- but they all consisted of slip-form mortared walls of random rubble with arched drainage openings and a concrete cap. Masonry railings were more expensive then other styles, but maintenance costs were very low. The condition of these railings in the abandoned Prescott Point section of the lower highway is still remarkable, given their age and many years of neglect.