The Madison Street Bridge, or Madison Bridge, refers to two different bridges that spanned the Willamette River in Portland, Oregon, from 1891 to 1900 and from 1900 to 1909. The bridges connected Madison Street, on the river's west bank, and Hawthorne Avenue, on the east bank, on approximately the same alignment as the existing Hawthorne Bridge. The original and later bridges are sometimes referred to as Madison Street Bridge No. 1 and Madison Street Bridge No. 2, respectively. [1] The second bridge, built in 1900, has alternatively been referred to as the "rebuilt" [2] Madison Street Bridge (of 1891), rather than as a new bridge, because it was rebuilt on the same piers. Both were swing bridges, whereas their successor, the Hawthorne Bridge, is a vertical-lift-type.
Madison Street Bridge (1891) | |
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Coordinates | 45°30′48″N122°40′15″W / 45.513204°N 122.670937°W |
Carries | Streetcars, horse-drawn vehicles, pedestrians and bicycles |
Crosses | Willamette River |
Locale | Portland, Oregon |
Characteristics | |
Design | Pratt truss [3] with swing span |
Material | Wood |
Total length | 1,470 feet (450 m) [3] (2,262 ft including approaches) [4] |
Width | 40 feet (12 m) [3] |
Longest span | 317 ft (97 m) (swing span) [4] |
History | |
Opened | January 11, 1891 |
Closed | December 1899 |
Replaced by | Madison Street Bridge (1900) |
Location | |
Construction of the first bridge, a wooden swing-span bridge, [5] began in February 1890. [6] It was built by the Pacific Bridge Company and owned by the Madison Street Bridge Company. It opened as a toll bridge on January 11, 1891. [5] At that time, the bridge's east end was in the city of East Portland, Oregon. Subsequently, in July of the same year, East Portland merged with its larger neighbor, becoming part of the city of Portland. [7] Later in 1891, the Oregon state legislature organized eight Portland residents into a committee that purchased the bridge on November 18, 1891, for $145,000 (equivalent to $3,825,315in 2015) and eliminated the tolls. [6] The following year, the committee won approval from the United States Secretary of War for a contract to build the Burnside Bridge nearby. [6]
The bridge's two-lane roadway was 22 feet (6.7 m) wide, and there were 6.5-foot (2 m) sidewalks on both sides, [4] while the structure's overall width was 40 feet (12 m). [3]
The Madison Street Bridge disaster occurred on November 1, 1893, when a westbound streetcar drove off the open draw of the bridge, and seven people died. This event remains the worst streetcar accident to occur in Portland, as well as the worst bridge disaster in the city's history. [8] [9] [10]
In July 1899, the aging bridge was declared unsafe and in urgent need of rebuilding. [11] Work to replace the structure, on the same piers, began in December 1899, with dismantling of the trusses. [12]
Madison Street Bridge (1900) | |
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Coordinates | 45°30′48″N122°40′15″W / 45.513204°N 122.670937°W |
Crosses | Willamette River |
Locale | Portland, Oregon |
Characteristics | |
Design | Howe truss [5] with swing span |
Material | Wood |
Total length | 1,456 ft (444 m) [2] |
Longest span | 312 ft (95 m) [5] or 316 ft (96 m) (swing span) [2] |
No. of spans | 7 (6 fixed, 1 movable) [2] |
History | |
Opened | April 1900 |
Closed | January 20, 1909 |
Replaced by | Hawthorne Bridge |
In 1900, the first bridge was replaced by another wooden swing-span bridge, sometimes referred to as Madison Street Bridge No. 2. [1] It has also been described as a rebuilding of the original bridge, because the work consisted of new truss spans mounted on the same piers. [12] The rebuilt bridge opened to traffic in April 1900, but retaining the original swing-span section from 1891. [13] Because of the estimated high cost, replacement of the swing span had been postponed, [13] with predictions that it might hold on for another year or two. However, in July 1900, it was declared unsafe by the Multnomah County Board of Commissioners, [14] and plans to replace it with a new swing-type draw span were accelerated. The new swing span was constructed in fall 1900, [15] and it was made stronger than its predecessor by an additional tower built over the middle pier, connected to the outer ends of the span by iron or steel rods. [2]
On June 21, 1902, a fire that destroyed six blocks of east-side waterfront property also heavily damaged the bridge's eastern approach viaduct, closing the bridge to all traffic [16] for several weeks. It reopened to pedestrians on July 18, [17] to horse-drawn vehicles on August 5, [18] and subsequently to streetcars. By 1907, planning was under way for the bridge to be replaced by a new structure that would be positioned at a higher elevation over the water [19] [20] and be constructed of steel instead of wood. In June 1907, voters approved a measure to issue $450,000 in municipal bonds to fund construction of a new bridge. [5] [21]
On January 20, 1909, the bridge was closed indefinitely to all traffic, after high river levels had caused debris to accumulate around its piers, placing strain on the structure. [22] The indefinite suspension became a permanent one. Plans for a new, stronger bridge, eventually to be named the Hawthorne Bridge, were firm by this time. The Portland Railway, Light and Power Company, whose streetcars had used the bridge, and many residents of the east side, argued that the old bridge should be reopened while the new one was being built, [23] [24] but it remained closed. Construction contracts for the new Hawthorne Bridge were signed in June 1909. [25] Dismantling of the Madison Street Bridge's structure and demolition of its piers took place in August and September 1909, [26] followed by construction of the replacement bridge, on the same alignment. The Hawthorne Bridge opened on December 19, 1910. [27] [28]
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 Hawthorne Bridge is a truss bridge with a vertical lift that spans the Willamette River in Portland, Oregon, joining Hawthorne Boulevard and Madison Street. It is the oldest vertical-lift bridge in operation in the United States and the oldest highway bridge in Portland. It is also the busiest bicycle bridge in Oregon, with over 8,000 cyclists and 800 TriMet buses daily. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in November 2012.
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.
The Burnside Bridge is a 1926-built bascule bridge that spans the Willamette River in Portland, Oregon, United States, carrying Burnside Street. It is the second bridge at the same site to carry that name. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in November 2012.
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 Broadway Bridge is a Rall-type bascule bridge spanning the Willamette River in Portland, Oregon, United States, built in 1913. It was Portland's first bascule bridge, and it continues to hold the distinction of being the longest span of its bascule design type in the world. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in November 2012.
The Interstate Bridge is a pair of nearly identical steel vertical-lift, Parker through-truss bridges that carry Interstate 5 traffic over the Columbia River between Vancouver, Washington and Portland, Oregon in the United States.
The Sellwood Bridge is a deck arch bridge that spans the Willamette River in Portland, Oregon, in the United States. The current bridge opened in 2016 and replaced a 1925 span that had carried the same name. The original bridge was Portland's first fixed-span bridge and, being the only river crossing for miles in each direction, the busiest two-lane bridge in Oregon.
The BNSF Railway Bridge 5.1, also known as the St. Johns Railroad Bridge or the Willamette River Railroad Bridge, is a through truss railway bridge with a vertical lift that spans the Willamette River in Portland, Oregon, United States. Built by the Spokane, Portland and Seattle Railway (SP&S) and completed in 1908, it was originally a swing-span bridge, and its swing-span section was the longest in the world at the time. However, 81 years later the main span was converted from a swing-type to a vertical-lift type, in order to widen the navigation channel. The lift span is one of the highest and longest in the world. The bridge consists of five sections, with the two sections closest to the bank on each side fixed.
Downtown Portland is the central business district of Portland, Oregon, United States. It is on the west bank of the Willamette River in the northeastern corner of the southwest section of the city and where most of the city's high-rise buildings are found.
Burlington Northern Railroad Bridge 9.6 or BNSF Railway Bridge 9.6, also known as the Columbia River Railroad Bridge, is through truss railway bridge across the Columbia River, between Portland, Oregon, and Vancouver, Washington, owned and operated by BNSF Railway. Built by the Spokane, Portland and Seattle Railway (SP&S) and completed in 1908, it was the first bridge of any kind to be built across the lower Columbia River, preceding the first road bridge, the nearby Interstate Bridge, by a little more than eight years.
Tilikum Crossing, Bridge of the People is a cable-stayed bridge across the Willamette River in Portland, Oregon, United States. It was designed by TriMet, the Portland metropolitan area's regional transit authority, for its MAX Orange Line light rail passenger trains. The bridge also serves city buses and the Portland Streetcar, as well as bicycles, pedestrians, and emergency vehicles. Private cars and trucks are not permitted on the bridge. It is the first major bridge in the U.S. that was designed to allow access to transit vehicles, cyclists and pedestrians but not cars.
The Oregon Slough Railroad Bridge, also known as the BNSF Railway Bridge 8.8, is a swing-span, through truss bridge in Portland, Oregon, United States. Currently owned and operated by BNSF Railway, it crosses an anabranch of the Columbia River known as North Portland Harbor and historically as the Oregon Slough. The bridge's northern end is on Hayden Island, which, along with Tomahawk Island, forms the north shore of the channel. Completed in 1908, the two-track bridge is one of only two swing bridges surviving in Portland, which once had several bridges of that type, both for road and rail traffic. The only other remaining swing bridge in the Portland area is another rail-only bridge on the same line, BNSF's nearby Bridge 9.6, spanning the Columbia River.
The following is a timeline of the history of the city of Portland, Oregon, United States.
The Madison Street bridge disaster occurred on November 1, 1893, in Portland, Oregon, United States, when a westbound streetcar drove off the open draw of the first Madison Street Bridge. Seven people died. This remains the worst streetcar accident ever to occur in the city of Portland and also the worst bridge disaster in Portland history.
Elwood was a sternwheel steamboat which was built to operate on the Willamette River, in Oregon, but which later operated on the Lewis River in Washington, the Stikine River in Canada, and on Puget Sound. The name of this vessel is sometimes seen spelled "Ellwood". Elwood is probably best known for an incident in 1893, when it was approaching the Madison Street Bridge over the Willamette River in Portland, Oregon. The bridge swung open to allow the steamer to pass. However, a streetcar coming in from the east end of the bridge failed to notice the bridge was open, and ran off into the river in the Madison Street Bridge disaster.
The A and B Loop is a streetcar circle route of the Portland Streetcar system in Portland, Oregon, United States. Operated by Portland Streetcar, Inc. and TriMet, it is made up of two separate services: the 6.1-mile (9.8 km) A Loop, which runs clockwise, and the 6.6-mile (10.6 km) B Loop, which runs counterclockwise. The route travels a loop between the east and west sides of the Willamette River by crossing the Broadway Bridge in the north and Tilikum Crossing in the south.
Orient was a light-draft sternwheel-driven steamboat built in 1875 for the Willamette River Transportation Company, a concern owned by pioneer businessman Ben Holladay. Shortly after its completion, it was acquired by the Oregon Steam Navigation Company. Orient was a near-twin vessel of a steamer built at the same time, the Occident.