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The city of Portland, Oregon, contains many bridges over various geographical features and roads of varying lengths and usages. Some bridges carry roads, some carry pedestrians only, some carry trains only, and others have various restrictions.
Bridges over the Willamette River comprise a majority of the notable bridges in the city. Portland has 12 bridges that span the Willamette, while only two road bridges cross the Columbia River, and other notable bridges cross roads, canyons or other bodies of water. Interstate 5 crosses the Willamette via the Marquam Bridge and the Columbia via the Interstate Bridge. Due to the large number of bridges crossing the Willamette in the center of town, Portland's nicknames include "Bridge City" and "Bridgetown."
Key: Year opened |
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*: Listed on the National Register of Historic Places |
†: Listed as a city historic landmark [1] |
Name (Alternative names in parentheses) | Image | Year opened | Type | Length | Spans | Carries | Coordinates |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Oregon Slough Railroad Bridge (BNSF Bridge 8.8) | ![]() | 1908 | Swing bridge, Pratt truss | 1,524 feet (465 m) | North Portland Harbor (an anabranch of the Columbia River) | BNSF Railway | 45°36′51″N122°42′08″W / 45.61425°N 122.702306°W |
Burlington Northern Railroad Bridge 9.6 (BNSF Bridge 9.6) | ![]() | 1908 | Swing bridge, Pratt truss | 2,807 feet (856 m) | Columbia River | BNSF Railway | 45°37′29″N122°41′27″W / 45.62473°N 122.69085°W |
Interstate Bridge (Portland–Vancouver Highway Bridge) | ![]() | 1917* (and second, parallel bridge in 1958) | Truss with lift span | 3,538 feet (1,078 m) | Columbia River | Interstate 5 | 45°36′24″N122°40′51″W / 45.606667°N 122.680833°W |
Glenn L. Jackson Memorial Bridge | ![]() | 1982 | Segmental | 11,750 feet (3,580 m) | Columbia River | Interstate 205 | 45°35′35″N122°32′55″W / 45.593056°N 122.548611°W |
Name (Alternative names in parentheses) | Image | Year opened | Type | Length | Spans | Carries | Coordinates |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
St. Johns Bridge | ![]() | 1931† | Suspension | 2,067 feet (630 m) | Willamette River | ![]() ![]() | 45°35′07″N122°45′52″W / 45.58528°N 122.76444°W |
Burlington Northern Railroad Bridge 5.1 (St. Johns Railway Bridge) | ![]() | 1908 | Vertical-lift bridge; converted from swing span in 1989 | 1,763 feet (537 m) | Willamette River | BNSF Railway | 45°34′36″N122°44′51″W / 45.57667°N 122.74750°W |
Fremont Bridge | ![]() | 1973 | Tied-arch bridge | 2,154 feet (657 m) | Willamette River | ![]() ![]() | 45°32′16″N122°40′59″W / 45.53778°N 122.68306°W |
Broadway Bridge | ![]() | 1913* | Truss with double-leaf "Rall"-type bascule span | 1,742 feet (531 m) | Willamette River | Broadway; Portland Streetcar A Loop and B Loop | 45°31′55″N122°40′27″W / 45.53194°N 122.67417°W |
Steel Bridge | ![]() | 1912 | Through truss with a double vertical-lift span | 800 feet (240 m) | Willamette River | Union Pacific Railway Amtrak MAX Light Rail Glisan Street, Interstate Avenue Formerly Harbor Drive (former ![]() | 45°31′39″N122°40′09″W / 45.52750°N 122.66917°W |
Burnside Bridge | ![]() | 1926* | Double-leaf "Strauss-type" bascule | 1,382 feet (421 m) | Willamette River | Burnside Street | 45°31′23″N122°40′03″W / 45.52306°N 122.66750°W |
Morrison Bridge | ![]() | 1958* | Double-leaf "Chicago style" bascule | 760 feet (230 m) | Willamette River | Morrison Street | 45°31′04″N122°40′11″W / 45.51778°N 122.66972°W |
Hawthorne Bridge | ![]() | 1910*† | Parker truss with a vertical-lift span | 1,382 feet (421 m) | Willamette River | Hawthorne Boulevard | 45°30′47″N122°40′14″W / 45.51306°N 122.67056°W |
Marquam Bridge | | 1966 | Cantilever truss | 1,043 feet (318 m) | Willamette River | ![]() | 45°30′29″N122°40′09″W / 45.50806°N 122.66917°W |
Tilikum Crossing | ![]() | 2015 | Cable-stayed | 1,720 feet (520 m) | Willamette River | TriMet MAX Orange Line and buses; Portland Streetcar | 45°30′20″N122°39′54″W / 45.50556°N 122.66500°W |
Ross Island Bridge | ![]() | 1926 | Cantilever deck truss | 3,729 feet (1,137 m) | Willamette River | ![]() | 45°30′04″N122°39′52″W / 45.50111°N 122.66444°W |
Sellwood Bridge | ![]() | 2016 | Deck arch bridge | 1,976 feet (602 m) | Willamette River | Tacoma Street | 45°27′52″N122°39′56″W / 45.46444°N 122.66556°W |
Name (Alternative names in parentheses) | Image | Year opened | Type | Length | Spans | Carries | Coordinates |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Blue Bridge (Cross Canyon Bridge) | | 1992 | Reed Lake | Pedestrians and bicycles | 45°28′55″N122°37′49″W / 45.48184°N 122.63037°W | ||
Blumenauer Bridge | ![]() | 2022 | Tied arch | 475 feet (145 m) | Banfield Freeway (on Interstate 84) | Pedestrians and bicycles | 45°31′36″N122°39′31″W / 45.52654°N 122.65873°W |
Bybee Bridge | | 1911 | ![]() | Bybee Boulevard | 45°28′28″N122°38′24″W / 45.47439°N 122.63987°W | ||
Cedar Crossing Bridge | ![]() | 1982 | Covered bridge | 60 feet (18 m) | Johnson Creek | Deardorff Road | 45°28′19.3″N122°31′25.4″W / 45.472028°N 122.523722°W |
Eastbank Esplanade | ![]() | 2001 | Pontoon | 1,200 feet (370 m) | Bank of the eastside of the Willamette River | Pedestrians and bicycles | |
Ned Flanders Crossing | ![]() | 2021 | 200 feet (61 m) | ![]() | Pedestrians and bicycles | 45°31′33″N122°41′12″W / 45.5257°N 122.6868°W | |
Gibbs Street Pedestrian Bridge | ![]() | 2012 | 700 feet (210 m) | ![]() | Pedestrians and bicycles | 45°29′57″N122°40′23″W / 45.4993°N 122.673°W | |
Vista Bridge (Vista Avenue Viaduct) | ![]() | 1926*† | Concrete arch | 248 feet (76 m) | MAX Light Rail line and Jefferson Street/Canyon Road | Vista Avenue | 45°31′09″N122°41′52″W / 45.519097°N 122.697844°W |
Barbara Walker Crossing | ![]() | 2019 | Trichord truss | 180 feet (55 m) | Burnside Street | Pedestrians and bicycles | 45°31′18″N122°43′10″W / 45.5216°N 122.7195°W |
Interstate 5 (I-5) is the main north–south Interstate Highway on the West Coast of the United States, running largely parallel to the Pacific coast of the contiguous U.S. from Mexico to Canada. It travels through the states of California, Oregon, and Washington, serving several large cities on the West Coast, including San Diego, Los Angeles, Sacramento, Portland, and Seattle. It is the only continuous Interstate highway to touch both the Mexican and Canadian borders. Upon crossing the Mexican border at its southern terminus, the highway continues to Tijuana, Baja California, as Mexican Federal Highway 1 (Fed. 1). Upon crossing the Canadian border at its northern terminus, it continues to Vancouver as British Columbia Highway 99 (BC 99).
The Steel Bridge is a through truss, double-deck vertical-lift bridge across the Willamette River in Portland, Oregon, United States, opened in 1912. Its lower deck carries railroad and bicycle/pedestrian traffic, while the upper deck carries road traffic, and light rail (MAX), making the bridge one of the most multimodal in the world. It is the only double-deck bridge with independent lifts in the world and the second oldest vertical-lift bridge in North America, after the nearby Hawthorne Bridge. The bridge links the Rose Quarter and Lloyd District in the east to Old Town Chinatown neighborhood in the west.
The Historic Columbia River Highway is an approximately 75-mile-long (121 km) scenic highway in the U.S. state of Oregon between Troutdale and The Dalles, built through the Columbia River Gorge between 1913 and 1922. As the first planned scenic roadway in the United States, it has been recognized in numerous ways, including being listed on the National Register of Historic Places, being designated as a National Historic Landmark by the U.S. Secretary of the Interior, being designated as a National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark by the American Society of Civil Engineers, and being considered a "destination unto itself" as an All-American Road by the U.S. Secretary of Transportation. The historic roadway was bypassed by the present Columbia River Highway No. 2 from the 1930s to the 1950s, leaving behind the old two-lane road. The road is now mostly owned and maintained by the state through the Oregon Department of Transportation as the Historic Columbia River Highway No. 100 or the Oregon Parks and Recreation Department as the Historic Columbia River Highway State Trail.
The Molalla River is a 51-mile (82 km) tributary of the Willamette River in the northwestern part of Oregon in the United States. Flowing northwest from the Cascade Range through Table Rock Wilderness, it passes the city of Molalla before entering the larger river near Canby. The Molalla is the largest Willamette tributary unblocked by a dam.
The Fremont Bridge is a steel tied-arch bridge over the Willamette River located in Portland, Oregon, United States. It carries Interstate 405 and US 30 traffic between downtown and North Portland where it intersects with Interstate 5. It has the longest main span of any bridge in Oregon and is the second longest tied-arch bridge in the world. The bridge was designed by Parsons, Brinckerhoff, Quade and Douglas, and built by Murphy Pacific Corporation. In 2006, Sharon Wood Wortman published the third and latest version of The Portland Bridge Book. This book provides even more detail about the Fremont Bridge than covered here.
The Morrison Bridge is a bascule bridge that spans the Willamette River in Portland, Oregon. Completed in 1958, it is the third bridge at approximately the same site to carry that name. It is one of the most heavily used bridges in Portland. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in November 2012.
The Marquam Bridge is a double-deck, steel-truss cantilever bridge that carries Interstate 5 traffic across the Willamette River from south of downtown Portland, Oregon, on the west side to the industrial area of inner Southeast on the east. It is the busiest bridge in Oregon, carrying 140,500 vehicles a day as of 2016. The upper deck carries northbound traffic; the lower deck carries southbound traffic. The Marquam also has on and off ramps for Interstate 405 on the south end of the bridge, while the terminus on the east bank of the river is near the interchange with Interstate 84.
The Ross Island Bridge is a cantilever truss bridge that spans the Willamette River in Portland, Oregon. It carries U.S. Route 26 across the river between southwest and southeast Portland. The bridge opened in 1926 and was designed by Gustav Lindenthal and honors Oregon pioneer Sherry Ross. It is named for its proximity to Ross Island. Although it looks like a deck arch bridge, it is a cantilever deck truss bridge, a rare type in Oregon.
The Astoria–Megler Bridge is a steel cantilever through-truss bridge in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States that spans the lower Columbia River. It carries a section of U.S. Route 101 from Astoria, Oregon, to Point Ellice near Megler, Washington. Opened in 1966, it is the longest continuous truss bridge in North America.
Oregon Route 99E Business is a business route through Salem, Oregon for Oregon Route 99E, which bypasses downtown via Interstate 5 (I-5). A portion of this highway was originally planned to be a freeway, signed as Interstate 305; however the proposed freeway was cancelled after community opposition.
Oregon Route 43 is an Oregon state highway that runs between the cities of Oregon City and Portland, mostly along the western flank of the Willamette River. While it is technically known by the Oregon Department of Transportation as the Oswego Highway No. 3, on maps it is referred to by its route number or by the various street names it has been given.
The following list presents the full set of National Register of Historic Places listings in Multnomah County, Oregon. However, please see separate articles for listings in each of Portland's six quadrants.
Boone Bridge is a steel girder highway bridge over the Willamette River at Wilsonville, Oregon, in the United States. Built in 1954, it crosses the river to the Charbonneau section of Wilsonville, carrying Interstate 5 into the open Willamette Valley from the Portland metropolitan area. Maintained by the Oregon Department of Transportation, the 1,111-foot-long (339 m) bridge has three travel lanes in each direction. To the west is the site of the former Boone's Ferry, which the bridge replaced.
Interstate 5 (I-5) in the U.S. state of Oregon is a major Interstate Highway that traverses the state from north to south. It travels to the west of the Cascade Mountains, connecting Portland to Salem, Eugene, Medford, and other major cities in the Willamette Valley and across the northern Siskiyou Mountains. The highway runs 308 miles (496 km) from the California state line near Ashland to the Washington state line in northern Portland, forming the central part of Interstate 5's route between Mexico and Canada.
Interstate 84 (I-84) in the U.S. state of Oregon is a major Interstate Highway that traverses the state from west to east. It is concurrent with U.S. Route 30 (US 30) for most of its length and runs 376 miles (605 km) from an interchange with I-5 in Portland to the Idaho state line near Ontario. The highway roughly follows the Columbia River and historic Oregon Trail in northeastern Oregon, and is designated as part of Columbia River Highway No. 2 and all of the Old Oregon Trail Highway No. 6; the entire length is also designated as the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Highway. I-84 intersects several of the state's main north–south roads, including US 97, US 197, I-82, and US 395.
Kelley Point Park is a city park in north Portland in the U.S. state of Oregon. Bounded by the Columbia Slough on the south, the Willamette River on the west, and the Columbia River on the north, the park forms the tip of the peninsula at the confluence of the rivers. Marine Terminal 6 of the Port of Portland lies immediately east of the park along the Columbia, while Terminal 5 is along the Willamette slightly south of the Columbia Slough. The park is at 45.6498384°N 122.7637106°W and rises to an elevation of 39 feet (12 m) above sea level. Sauvie Island is west of the park across the Willamette River. Hayden Island is slightly upstream of the park on the Columbia River opposite Marine Terminal 6.