The Historic Columbia River Highway was the first modern highway constructed in the Pacific Northwest and the first scenic highway in the United States. The road became a trunk route from Portland’s large commercial center to eastern Oregon and points beyond.
The road is the pinnacle of early-20th-century rural highway design created to take visitors to the Columbia River Gorge’s most breathtaking and beautiful natural wonders and scenic vistas. The HCRH was a portion of the longer “Columbia River Highway,” and was constructed between 1913 and 1922.
