On the upper Columbia River Highway between Hood River and Cascade Locks, 14.2 miles have been graded, 18 miles gravelled, and a number of reinforced concrete bridges built, among which is the Hood River bridge at Hood River, costing $48,000.00. The total cost of the work completed between Hood River and Cascade Locks will amount to $466,000.00.
The sections improved during this period, with their mileages and costs are as follows:
| Sections | Miles | Total Cost | ||
| Grading— | ||||
| Cascade Locks to Hood River | 14.2 | $ 355,000.00 | ||
| Goble to Clatskanie | 8.2 | 78,500.00 | ||
| Astoria to Svensen | 1.2 | 15,000.00 | ||
| Bridges— | ||||
| Hood River Bridge | ... | 48,000.00 | ||
| Beaver Valley Bridges | ... | 32,000.00 | ||
| John Day River Bridge | ... | 25,000.00 | ||
| Other Bridges | ... | 31,000.00 | ||
| Paving— | ||||
| Astoria to Svensen | 3.5 | 65,000.00 | ||
| Scappoose to Multnomah County Line | 2.5 | 37,500.00 | ||
| Macadamizing— | ||||
| Astoria to Svensen | 5.5 | 30,000.00 | ||
| Svensen to Columbia County Line | 18.9 | 215,000.00 | ||
| Clatsop County Line to Goble | 27.2 | 335,000.00 | ||
| Cascade Locks to Hood River | 18.0 | 65,000.00 | ||
| Total Expenditures 1917 and 1918 | ... | $1,332,000.00 | ||
During 1919, work will be undertaken on the Columbia River Highway to the amount of $1,400,000.00, comprising 10 miles of pavement, 85 miles of gravel macadam and 80 miles of grading. This work when completed will provide a surfaced highway between Astoria and Pendleton.
COUNTY WORK SUPERVISED BY THE HIGHWAY DEPARTMENT
That the Counties of the State have confidence in the Highway Department and recognize the ability of the Department to get results is evidenced by the fact that $709,724.79 of county funds have been voluntarily turned over to the Department during 1917 and 1918 to be expended under its supervision.
This, $709,724.79, is the actual amount of money paid out by Counties on vouchers audited and approved by the Department. In addition to this a large amount of work has been done by Counties under the supervision of the Department, for which payment was made direct by the Counties without being audited by the Highway Department. No record of the total amount thus expended is available, but it is estimated to be about $200,000.00. No part of this amount is included in any of the tabulations of expenditures given in this report. The cost of engineering and supervision of work handled in this manner, has been paid by the Highway Department and is included in [Table VI] of the Financial Report as “Engineering County Construction.”
For co-operation on Post and Forest Road Projects, a total of $325,000.00 of County Funds have already been pledged. Of this amount $155,000.00 will be expended under State supervision, and $170,000.00 under Federal Government supervision.
CONSTRUCTION WORK BY STATE FORCES
While the major part of the work supervised by the State Highway Department is handled under the contract system, it has been found to be good business for the Department to go into competition with contractors and where satisfactory bids are not received to proceed to handle the work with State forces.