Beneath your feet stretches the Capitol Boulevard Memorial Bridge, also called the Oregon Trail Memorial Bridge, a span over the Boise River now listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Up close you can appreciate its 310 ft (94 m) length and its Art Deco mood, the clean geometry of a deck arch built in 1931 by Morrison-Knudsen from plans by Idaho state highway engineer Charles A. Kyle. Four 70 ft (21 m) open spandrel arches rise beneath a 40 ft (12 m) wide roadbed that carries four lanes of motorized traffic across the river, while two 6 ft (1.8 m) cantilevered sidewalks welcome pedestrians.
This crossing sits in a long transport story: Boise was established in 1863 after the second Fort Boise, and Oregon Trail pioneers once forded this river. In 1864 John McClellan and William Thompson formed the Ada Ferry Company and won a charter to run a ferry here, then built a toll bridge in 1868; that crossing was replaced by the Ninth Street Bridge in 1911. In 1914 architect Charles W. Wayland imagined a grand boulevard approaching the Idaho State Capitol Building.
Study the arches beneath your feet, then follow their line across the Boise River to the Capitol dome waiting beyond.