Morrison Bridge | |
---|---|
Coordinates | 45°31′04″N122°40′12″W / 45.5179°N 122.67°W |
Carries | motor vehicles, pedestrians, cyclists |
Crosses | Willamette River |
Locale | Portland, Oregon, U.S. |
Maintained by | Multnomah County |
ID number | 02758 |
Characteristics | |
Design | double-leaf "Chicago style" bascule |
Total length | 760 feet (236.1 m) |
Width | 90 feet (27.4 m) |
Longest span | 284 feet |
Clearance below | 69 feet closed |
History | |
Opened | May 24, 1958 (replaced 1887 and 1905 bridges) |
Morrison Bridge | |
Location | Portland, Oregon; Willamette River at river mile 12.8 |
Coordinates | 45°31′04″N122°40′11″W / 45.517895°N 122.669692°W Coordinates: 45°31′04″N122°40′11″W / 45.517895°N 122.669692°W |
MPS | Willamette River Highway Bridges of Portland, Oregon |
NRHP reference No. | 12000933 [1] |
Added to NRHP | November 14, 2012 [1] |
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. [2] It is one of the most heavily used bridges in Portland. [3] It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in November 2012. [1] [4]
The original Morrison Bridge (or Morrison Street Bridge) was a wooden truss swing-span bridge that opened to the public on April 9, 1887 [5] [6] (with a formal opening three days later), [7] as the first Willamette River bridge in Portland and the longest bridge west of the Mississippi River. It was named for the street it carried, which had been named for John L. Morrison, a Scottish immigrant who built the first home on Morrison Street. [2] It was first a toll bridge (rates: horse-drawn rig - US$0.15, team of horses - $0.20, pedestrian - $0.05) but went toll-free in 1895. [2] The second Morrison was another swing bridge that was built in 1905. It was not designed for automobiles and the 1958 replacement was long overdue.
The first Morrison Bridge carried horsecars starting in March 1888, about a year after the bridge opened. Electric streetcars, introduced in Portland in November 1889, replaced horsecar service on the bridge in stages starting in 1890. [8] Streetcars also crossed the second (1905) Morrison bridge, but not the third (1958), as the last lines of Portland's past streetcar system had been abandoned by the time it opened. [2] [9]
The present bridge was built by Multnomah County. It was completed on May 24, 1958 at a cost of $12.9 million. [2] In 1961, Interstate 5 and Interstate 84 ramps were added.
In 1987, the Morrison Bridge became the first bridge illuminated by the Willamette Light Brigade. [2] In 2007, the original 16 colored floodlamps illuminating the concrete piers were replaced by energy-efficient and computer-controlled LEDs. [10] Different colors may be selected for each of eight zones of the piers. [11] Static and animated patterns may be requested for a fee which ranges from $100 per night to $1200 per month (as of 2009). [12]
Access for bicycles and pedestrians was improved in a $1.9 million project which began construction in March 2009 and added a barrier-separated path on the south side. [13] Previously, there were only narrow sidewalks. In 2011–12, the steel grating on the bascule deck was replaced with fiber-reinforced polymer panels to provide better traction for vehicles. The work was completed in March 2012, [3] but problems with the new deck panels began to be reported in fall 2013. [14] Multnomah County anticipates a major seismic upgrade around 2020. The bridge was added to the National Register of Historic Places in November 2012. [4]
The bridge is the largest mechanical device in Oregon. [15] 36 ft. tall gears drive 940-ton counterweights located inside each of the piers. The 69 ft. clearance is sufficient for most river traffic, requiring bridge openings only about 30 times a month. It currently carries 50,000 vehicles daily in six lanes. The canted windows of the control tower give the distinctive look of air traffic control towers. The current bridge does not connect to Morrison Street at its west end because the second bridge was left in operation while the latest version was built, necessitating that the replacement bridge be on a different alignment. [2]
In 2005, the bridge opened for river traffic an average of 33 times a month. [2] : 55
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 and transit 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 Willamette Shore Trolley is a heritage railroad or heritage streetcar that operates along the west bank of the Willamette River between Portland and Lake Oswego in the U.S. state of Oregon. The right-of-way is owned by a group of local-area governments who purchased it in 1988 in order to preserve it for potential future rail transit. Streetcar excursion service began operating on a trial basis in 1987, lasting about three months, and regular operation on a long-term basis began in 1990. The Oregon Electric Railway Historical Society has been the line's operator since 1995.
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The Burlington Northern Railroad Bridge 5.1 or 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.
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Like transportation in the rest of the United States, the primary mode of local transportation in Portland, Oregon is the automobile. Metro, the metropolitan area's regional government, has a regional master plan in which transit-oriented development plays a major role. This approach, part of the new urbanism, promotes mixed-use and high-density development around light rail stops and transit centers, and the investment of the metropolitan area's share of federal tax dollars into multiple modes of transportation. In the United States, this focus is atypical in an era when automobile use led many areas to neglect their core cities in favor of development along interstate highways, in suburbs, and satellite cities.
Portland is "an international pioneer in transit orientated developments."
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A great many people passed over the Morrison-street bridge yesterday, but owing to delay in the completion of the work, caused by the weather, there was no formal opening.
The Morrison street bridge was formally opened for traffic at 10 o'clock yesterday forenoon.