Steel Bridge
Steel Bridge | |
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Coordinates | 45°31′39″N 122°40′09″W / 45.52750°N 122.66917°W |
Carries | Upper: 2 outer lanes for general traffic, 2 inner lanes solely for MAX Light Rail, and sidewalks on both sides Lower: Union Pacific Railroad (incl. Amtrak toward Eugene) and walkway |
Crosses | Willamette River |
Locale | Portland, Oregon |
Owner | Union Pacific Railroad |
Maintained by | Union Pacific Railroad |
Characteristics | |
Design | Through truss with a double vertical-lift span |
Width | 71 feet (22 m) |
Longest span | 211 feet (64 m) |
Clearance below | 26 feet (7.9 m) closed 72 feet (22 m) lower deck raised 163 feet (50 m) fully raised |
History | |
Opened | 1912 (replaced 1888 bridge) |
Location | |
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![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/cc/Portland_Steel_Bridge_with_lift_span_raised_-_viewed_from_west.jpg/220px-Portland_Steel_Bridge_with_lift_span_raised_-_viewed_from_west.jpg)
The Steel Bridge is a
History
The bridge was completed in 1912 and replaced the previous Steel Bridge built in 1888 as a double-deck swing-span bridge. The 1888 structure was the first railroad bridge across the Willamette River in Portland. Its name originated because steel, instead of wrought iron, was used in the original bridge's construction, which was very unusual for the time.[2] When the current Steel Bridge opened, it was simply given its predecessor's name.
The bridge was designed by the engineering firm of
The 1888 Steel Bridge (upper deck) had been crossed by
In 1950, the Steel Bridge became an important part of a new
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/77/MAX_train_crossing_Steel_Bridge_in_2009_-_street_view_of_SD660_LRVs.jpg/220px-MAX_train_crossing_Steel_Bridge_in_2009_-_street_view_of_SD660_LRVs.jpg)
In the mid-1980s, the bridge underwent a $10 million renovation, including construction of the MAX
A single-lane viaduct that connected the bridge's east approach to another viaduct (still in existence) that takes traffic from southbound Interstate 5 to Interstate 84 was closed in 1988 and removed in 1989, as part of roadway changes intended to improve traffic flow around the Oregon Convention Center.[13] The center was under construction at that time and opened in 1990.
The lower deck of the bridge was threatened by major floods in
In 2001, a 220-foot-long (67 m) and 8-foot-wide (2.4 m) cantilevered walkway was installed on the southern side of the bridge's lower deck as part of the Eastbank Esplanade construction, raising to three the number of publicly accessible walkways across the bridge, including the two narrow sidewalks on the upper deck. The bridge is owned by Union Pacific with the upper deck leased to Oregon Department of Transportation, and subleased to TriMet, while the City of Portland is responsible for the approaches.[14]
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/51/Amtrak_talgo_train_crossing_steel_bridge.jpg/220px-Amtrak_talgo_train_crossing_steel_bridge.jpg)
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a8/A2004-002-3630-steel-bridge-18901.jpg/220px-A2004-002-3630-steel-bridge-18901.jpg)
The average daily traffic in 2000 was 23,100 vehicles (including many TriMet buses), 200 MAX trains, 40 freight and Amtrak trains, and 500 bicycles. The construction of the lower-deck walkway connected to the Eastbank Esplanade resulted in a sharp increase in bicycle traffic, with over 2,100 daily bicycle crossings in 2005.[15] MAX traffic has tripled since 2000, when only the Gresham–Hillsboro line (now the Blue Line) was using the bridge, to 605 daily crossings (weekdays) as of 2012.[4]: 38 This resulted from the addition of three more MAX lines during that period: the Red, Yellow, Green Lines.
In the summer of 2008, the upper deck was closed for three weeks to allow a junction to be built at the west end connecting the existing MAX tracks with a new MAX line on the Portland Transit Mall. A change made at that time was that the two inner lanes became restricted to MAX trains only, with cars, buses and other motorized traffic permitted only in the two outer lanes.[16]
In 2012, the Steel Bridge celebrated its 100th birthday. The Oregonian called it the "hardest-working" bridge on the Willamette River: "Cars, trucks, freight trains, buses, Amtrak, MAX, pedestrians, bicycles — you carry it all."[17]
Structure and lift operation
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/3d/Steel_Bridge_lift_span_raised_-_view_from_roadway_%282012%29.jpg/220px-Steel_Bridge_lift_span_raised_-_view_from_roadway_%282012%29.jpg)
The lift span of the bridge is 211 feet (64 m) long. At low river levels, the lower deck is 26 feet (7.9 m) above the water, and 163 feet (50 m) of vertical clearance is provided when both decks are raised. Because of the independent lifts, the lower deck can be raised to 72 feet (22 m), telescoping into the upper deck but not disturbing it. Each deck has its own counterweights, two for the upper and eight for the lower, totaling 9 million lbs. (4,100
The machinery house sits atop the upper-deck lift truss. The operator's room is suspended from the top of the lift-span truss, directly below the machinery house, so that the operator can view river traffic as well as the upper deck. After the 2001 addition of a pedestrian walkway on the lower deck, cameras and closed-circuit television monitors were added to allow the operator to view the lower-deck walkway.[4]: 17
Until the bridge's mid-1980s renovation, the crossing gates blocking the roadway and sidewalks during raising of the upper-deck lift span were manually operated, rotated horizontally across the roadway by two "gate tenders", one on each side of the lift span.[4]: 8 Small shacks for the gatekeepers were positioned on the roadway deck, between the inner and outer traffic lanes, but they were removed during the 1980s rebuilding[4]: 21 and replaced by a new gate tender house positioned above the roadway, in the west lift tower.[4]: 8 Powered crossing gates replaced the manual ones, and operation of the gates is now automated, controlled by the bridge operator.[4]: 21
See also
- List of bridges documented by the Historic American Engineering Record in Oregon
- List of crossings of the Willamette River
References
- General
- Wood Wortman, Sharon (2006). The Portland Bridge Book (3rd ed.). Portland, OR: Urban Adventure Press. ISBN 978-0-9787365-1-4.
- Sheldrake, Arlen; et al. (2012). Steel Over the Willamette. Portland, OR: Pacific Northwest Chapter, ISBN 978-0-9851207-0-2.
- Specific
- ^ "Willamette River (Steel) Bridge" (DOC). Portland Bridges. Oregon Department of Transportation. 1999. Retrieved 2007-08-25.
- ISBN 0-87595-211-9.
- ^ Wood Wortman (2006), pp. 5, 39, 42, 180.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-9851207-0-2.
- ISBN 978-0-7385-4876-0.
- ISBN 0-87595-205-4.
- ^ 1634–1699: McCusker, J. J. (1997). How Much Is That in Real Money? A Historical Price Index for Use as a Deflator of Money Values in the Economy of the United States: Addenda et Corrigenda (PDF). American Antiquarian Society. 1700–1799: McCusker, J. J. (1992). How Much Is That in Real Money? A Historical Price Index for Use as a Deflator of Money Values in the Economy of the United States (PDF). American Antiquarian Society. 1800–present: Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. "Consumer Price Index (estimate) 1800–". Retrieved February 29, 2024.
- ^ "New Bridge Used: Streetcars Take New Route for First Time" (September 9, 1912). The Morning Oregonian, p. 10.
- ISBN 978-0-7385-8126-2.
- ^ Ostergren, Jack (June 25, 1968). "Unusual, Busy Steel Bridge Designed For Double Duty". The Oregon Journal. p. 10.
- ^ "Steel Bridge shut down for light rail" (June 12, 1984). The Oregonian, p. B1.
- ^ Federman, Stan (May 30, 1986). "Bridge party trumpets reopening". The Oregonian, p. E2.
- ^ Federman, Stan (January 18, 1989). "Major road repairs this summer could snarl Portland-area traffic". The Oregonian, p. B2.
- ^ Redden, Jim (October 19, 2006). "Steel Bridge is less than solid". Portland Tribune. Pamplin Media Group. Archived from the original on September 29, 2007. Retrieved July 12, 2014.
- ^ "Bridge bike traffic up in '05". BikePortland.org. Archived from the original on 2006-04-21. Retrieved 2006-04-09.
- ^ Redden, Jim (August 23, 2008). "Steel Bridge reopened with changes". Portland Tribune. Archived from the original on November 7, 2018. Retrieved July 16, 2019.
- ^ Rose, Joseph (July 6, 2012). "Beaverton driving hotline can deliver a jolt to traffic scofflaws". The Oregonian. Archived from the original on July 8, 2012. Retrieved July 16, 2019.
External links
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/4a/Commons-logo.svg/30px-Commons-logo.svg.png)
- ODOT Steel Bridge page
- Steel Bridge at Structurae
- Historic American Engineering Record (HAER) No. OR-21, "Steel Bridge, Spanning Willamette River at State Route 99, Portland, Multnomah County, OR", 22 photos, 3 color transparencies, 3 measured drawings, 49 data pages, 5 photo caption pages