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I used to gauge the wind’s direction by the flapping of the U.S. and Oregon flags atop the Fremont Bridge. Now, however, the Oregon flag has disappeared. What happened to it? Will it be replaced? And if so, how will anyone get up there to do it? —Person With Trivial Concerns
No fewer than three readers (a deluge, by my standards) wrote to ask me this same question. Trivial? This shit is #trending! Sure, it may be less about the flag itself than the way we’ve all been staring glassy-eyed into the distance a lot lately (sometimes in the direction of a bridge), but I’m going for it.
I won’t keep you in suspense: The Oregon flag—or, more precisely, the mechanism that allows it to be raised, lowered and set at half-mast to make you feel guilty about not knowing who died—is broken. Rather than allowing it to flail in the wind, potentially dropping parts onto traffic below, the Oregon Department of Transportation removed it until the mechanism can be repaired properly.
Their waving may look peaceful from the ground, but the lives of these 15-by-25-foot banners (like those of the jurisdictions they represent) can be pretty brutal. In fact, the flags only last about four months before the wind whips them into tatters, so it’s not too surprising that some hardware eventually gave way as well.
And, as horrible as it may sound to you and me, replacing these flags does indeed require someone to go up there. A cramped crawl space inside one of the arches leads to a flimsy open-air catwalk 380 feet above the river. You know, in case you’ve been wondering who would win a fight between fear of heights and claustrophobia.
When the bridge opened in 1973, it didn’t even have flags—they were added in 1976 in honor of the U.S. Bicentennial. (They were supposed to be temporary, but public opinion intervened.) Unfortunately, parts for a 1976 model year flagpole are tough to find nowadays, and ODOT had to have them fabricated from scratch. This is taking a while, though they have ordered a few spares in case this happens again.
In the meantime, Trivial, I would point out that you really need only one flag to judge the wind’s direction. Sure, we’ll all miss watching Oregon’s flag flapping to the left even as the U.S. one blows right, but patience is a virtue.
Questions? Send them to dr.know@wweek.com.