In 1996, ODOT reopened the CRH segment between Tanner Creek and Eagle Creek (between HMP 41.7 and 42.8) for non-motorized use as part of the HCRH State Trail. The rehabilitated segment includes the Toothrock and Eagle Creek viaducts.
As part of the rehabilitation project in this segment, ODOT replaced spindles on the railings of Toothrock Viaduct. Masons repointed or reconstructed guard walls on the nearby Eagle Creek Viaduct. They also rebuilt a section of the Eagle Creek Viaduct crushed under a rockslide in the 1980s. The masons replicated a nearby pedestrian observatory area, Eagle’s Nest. A new pedestrian bridge replaced a segment of the original highway lost during construction of Toothrock Tunnel’s east portal in 1936. This new structure serves as a vital link in reconnecting Tanner Creek with Eagle Creek on the HCRH State Trail.
The roadway extends an eighth of a mile east of the new pedestrian bridge before abruptly ending far above the 1937 realignment. There, a concrete staircase, constructed in 1996, enables bicyclists and hikers to reach the next section of the CRH, an off-ramp from Interstate 84 which leads to the Eagle Creek Campground (HMP 42.8). The USDA Forest Service’s Oregon National Forest developed this area along the highway in 1915 as a camping and picnic facility.
In 1999, the FHWA’s Western Federal Lands Highway Division completed rehabilitation of the 2.4-mile Eagle Creek to Cascade Locks section (HMP 42.8 to 45) of the CRH for non-motorized use. Within a quarter mile east of the Eagle Creek Campground, the highway’s alignment headed south, away from the river. At HMP 43.6, it crosses Ruckel Creek on a masonry-walled 10-foot slab span constructed in 1917.
A short section east of Ruckel Creek Bridge, the highway takes an 800-foot detour route dating from 1937. It rejoins the original alignment below the south shoulder of present-day Interstate 84. As part of the 1999 FHWA project, a pedestrian tunnel was constructed under the Interstate 84 alignment. North of the four-lane highway, the HCRH State Trail follows a new alignment eastward for 2,000 feet before continuing on the original CRH roadbed to the Bridge of the Gods, in Cascade Locks, at HMP 45.8.