Hood River-White Salmon Bridge Replacement

Building a bridge — and public trust

For three years, JLA led all public-facing communications and engagement for the effort to replace the 100-year-old bridge between Hood River, Oregon and White Salmon, Washington. This included creating a brand identity and building awareness for a new government agency, growing local and regional familiarity with the project via multi-media campaigns, and ensuring members of the public had a chance to provide feedback at key points in the project development through a variety of venues. This feedback has supported the community in helping shape the new bridge and feeling ownership of the project.

Practice areas

Engagement Strategy and Process

Stakeholder Insights

Facilitation

Strategic Communications

Online Engagement

Digital Storytelling

Public Meetings and Events

Design and Copywriting

People

Jessica Pickul

Anna Marum

Anastasia Zurcher

Esme Schornstein

Andrea Maldonado

Darren Cools

Alyssa Pratt

Sam Beresky

Communication and public involvement

Close collaboration with representatives and communities on both sides of the bridge was essential to the process of building trust. JLA led community engagement strategy and implementation, and developed public communications for this quickly developing project. Integrated as a core member of the project management team, JLA supported formation of a new public agency, the Hood River-White Salmon Bridge Authority, as well as the work of its precursor, the Bi-State Working Group. Our team also oversaw community feedback for a Bridge Aesthetics process and facilitated the Authority’s Communications & Government Relations Committee.

Why it matters: Because of our work, more community members understand the project, the role of the new agency and the process to build the new bridge.  

Video produced by Story Gorge as a subconsultant to JLA

This work was recognized with a 2025 Spotlight Award from PRSA Oregon for an Outstanding Community Relations Campaign.

Measures of success

  • More than 50,000 page views on project websites within 12 months, showing community reliance on the sites as trusted sources of information.

  • 60 local/regional media mentions per year on average, demonstrating successful media outreach efforts, leading to name recognition and improved project understanding.

  • Strong and growing social media reach thanks to frequent and relevant posts. These efforts improved community perception of the project, and gave residents a way to engage directly.

  • High participation at project events. Informed and thoughtful comments indicated community understanding, perception and trust of the project growing over time.

Rooted in community: This campaign not only spread the word about the bridge replacement process, but also made sure that community values were built into the new agency and decision-making.

Tactic highlight: Facebook Live events — Facebook is a key forum for Gorge communities to share information. Seeing this as an important opportunity to build trust, we implemented Facebook Live events with project leaders, allowing people to ask questions live or in advance. Sharing recordings makes these conversations available even more broadly. ridge Authority Facebook Live event recordings

Identifying audiences and how to engage them

The team conducted research to identify audiences, including those who may not have interacted with the bridge process previously. Primary public audiences included:

  • Communities on both sides of the river in Oregon and Washington

  • People of all income levels, particularly those impacted by the cost of tolls

  • Bridge users, including those in vehicles and those who rely on other forms of transportation (public transit, biking, walking, mobility aids)

  • Businesses and industries who rely on the bridge, including farmers and migrant workers

  • English and Spanish speaking community members

Other audiences that received specific strategic outreach were partner government agencies, River Treaty Tribes, community partners and organizations, and lawmakers.

What JLA delivered

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