Rainbow Bridge shows age, but its bones are strong

La Conner’s iconic Rainbow Bridge has spanned the channel since 1957 and approaches its 60-year anniversary.

Its last coat of brilliant orange paint was applied in 2003 and has since become faded, has begun growing moss and is collecting graffiti in some sections and bird droppings in others.

But a bridge’s function is not judged by its appearance. Less than 1 percent of the bridge’s paint has worn off, so even though it’s not pretty, the faded paint is still protecting the structure, say the experts.

Forrest Jones, who is the lead bridge inspector and Transportation Program section manager for Skagit County, says that the bridge could use a good washing, but won’t actually need paint for a few more years.

Ugly age-spotted paint aside, the actual structure of the bridge looks OK, based on a draft of the official inspection conducted by the state in late April.

The county received the draft report recently and was still waiting for the official report this week. According to the draft report, there are some rusty spots, a few missing rivets, a missing screen allowing birds to get inside, some crumbling concrete on a section of the sidewalk, some cracked concrete in the deck and a small crack in the top arch.

And that’s pretty good for a bridge of its age — the Rainbow Bridge was projected to have a useful life of 75 years when it was built, but Jones said it will likely last much longer.

“It’s getting some cracking in the deck and minor rusting on some of the steel floor beams,” Jones said. “It’s pretty natural to try to keep those patched up,” he said. So far in the draft report, “nothing says we need to go in there and do a bunch of work. It’s pretty routine maintenance.”

Jones said the faded paint —green-tinged from moss growth in some places — is not in bad enough condition to warrant replacing. Pressure washing, he said, would be in order, but the county, which owns the bridge, does not have money budgeted to wash bridges.

He said he would see if washing all the county-maintained bridges that need it could be included in next year’s budget.