The Glenn Jackson Memorial Bridge – the four-lane span that connects Vancouver, Washington, to Portland, Oregon, turned 35 in December, said Matt Garrett, director of the Oregon Department of Transportation.

When the bridge debuted on Dec. 15, 1982, the total cost of the structure came to less than $170 million, which was shared by the federal government, Oregon and Washington states.

The cost was about $5 million less than what officials spent in public funds on engineering and other planning for the Columbia River Crossing to replace the Interstate 5 bridge between the two states. That bridge was never built and has long been regarded as a major failure of ODOT, though Washington ultimately balked on helping out on funding the project.

Planning for the two-mile-long Glenn Jackson bridge began in 1964 and construction started in August 1977.

The bridge is named for a former chairman of the Oregon State Highway Commission, who later joined the Oregon Economic Development Commission.