Why are bridges green? The story starts in Oregon

Bridges all across the country are painted the same shade of Statue-of-Liberty green. It’s a tradition that started right here in Oregon: meet ODOT Green.
Drive across Oregon and it’s hard not to notice that many of the state’s steel bridges — from the foggy coast to high desert — are the same shade of sage green. It’s so ubiquitous that the paint’s manufacturer calls it “ODOT Green” after Oregon’s Department of Transportation.

But ODOT Green — a color that started a national phenomenon — is a color that almost didn’t happen: Oregon’s first green-painted bridge, the St. Johns, was initially supposed to be striped black and yellow like a bumblebee.

It wasn't. But green bridges began there, with the St. Johns and the two men who competed to build it: David B. Steinman and Conde McCullough.

Both were bridge engineers who believed firmly in the aesthetic possibilities of bridges, and both were self-made men who rose from poverty to national prominence. But that’s where the similarities end.

Steinman saw himself as a visionary poet and artist. McCullough was a quiet intellectual whose curiosity led him to pursue a law degree by attending night classes.