Vista Bridge | |
---|---|
Coordinates | 45°31′09″N122°41′52″W / 45.5191°N 122.6978°W |
Carries | Vista Avenue and pedestrians |
Crosses | MAX Light Rail line and Jefferson Street/Canyon Road |
Locale | Portland, Oregon |
Maintained by | Multnomah County |
Characteristics | |
Total length | 248 ft |
Height | 120 ft |
History | |
Opened | 1926 [1] [2] |
Vista Avenue Viaduct | |
Portland Historic Landmark [3] | |
Location | 1200 SW Vista Avenue Portland, Oregon |
Coordinates | 45°31′09″N122°41′52″W / 45.519097°N 122.697844°W |
Built | 1926 |
NRHP reference No. | 84003093 [4] |
Added to NRHP | April 26, 1984 |
The Vista Bridge (officially, Vista Avenue Viaduct) is an arch bridge for vehicles and pedestrians located in Portland, Oregon, United States. It connects the areas of King's Hill and Vista Ridge (the entire southern hillside is also referred to as Portland Heights) which are both in the Goose Hollow neighborhood. [5] The MAX Light Rail line and Jefferson Street/Canyon Road travel under the bridge, and Vista Avenue crosses the bridge.
The ravine the Vista Bridge passes over was carved out by Tanner Creek and is referred to as the Tanner Creek Canyon (the source of the name for Canyon Road), [5] which was called "The Great Plank Road". Tanner Creek was diverted underground beginning in the 1870s with work completed in the early 1900s. [5] The creek still runs underground beneath the Vista Bridge, although it now drains the surrounding hillside via storm drains and a culvert to the Willamette River. [5]
The bridge has four pedestrian balconies, or "refuge bays" [6] (extensions outward from the sidewalk), holding concrete benches, two on each side. [7] The 248-foot-long (76 m) structure was designed by architect Fred T. Fowler. [7] It is of a rib-reinforced concrete deck arch design. [7] Completed in 1926, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places, as the Vista Avenue Viaduct, on April 26, 1984. [4]
The Ford Street Bridge, [8] a previous bridge on this site, was built in 1903 as part of a streetcar route to Council Crest, the highest point in Portland at 1,070 feet. [9] [10] Council Crest was the site of the "Big Tree Observatory" (built for the 1905 Lewis & Clark Exposition) and a popular amusement park and dance hall that operated from 1907 to 1929. [11] Streetcars crossed the current bridge until 1950, when service on the Council Crest line (and the only other two then-remaining urban streetcar lines) was abandoned, [12] but the disused tracks remained in place on the bridge for another four decades, until a renovation of the bridge deck.
In 1991, several bungee jumps were filmed here for an Oregon Lottery advertisement. [13] Opening scenes for the 2004 film What the Bleep Do We Know!? were filmed in Goose Hollow and included views of the Vista Bridge and the Goose Hollow/SW Jefferson St (MAX station). [14] In 2010, the title shot for Portlandia was photographed from the Vista Bridge. [15]
The bridge has been a popular place for jumpers, with the first incident possibly occurring five years after its 1926 opening, earning it the nickname "Suicide Bridge". From 2004 through 2011, 13 people died by suicide by jumping. [16] In July 2013, following three fatal jumps in six months, Portland City Commissioner Steve Novick approved an emergency request by the Portland Transportation Bureau to erect temporary suicide barriers. [17] Because of its status on the National Register of Historic Places the bridge's barrier had to be approved by the Preservation Society under the National Historic Preservation Act and by the State Historic Preservation Office and any federal and state agencies that provide funding. [16] Following the erection of a suicide barrier in the fall of 2013, as a result of protest on the behalf of local residents, a would-be jumper managed to get around the barrier but was talked down by police; [18] in January 2014, a 14-year-old boy shot and killed himself on the bridge, tumbling onto the adjacent embankment. [19]
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 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.
Crown Point is a basalt promontory on the Columbia River Gorge and an associated state park in the U.S. state of Oregon. It is located in eastern Multnomah County, approximately 15 miles (24 km) east of Portland. Crown Point is one of the scenic lookouts along the Historic Columbia River Highway, providing a panoramic view of part of the Columbia River. It stands 733 feet (223 m) above the river and is the remains of a lava flow that filled the ancestral channel of the Columbia River 14 to 17 million years ago. The Point was designated a National Natural Landmark in 1971.
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 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.
Goose Hollow/Southwest Jefferson Street is a light rail station on the MAX Blue and Red Lines in the Goose Hollow neighborhood of Portland, Oregon. It is the third stop westbound on the Westside MAX alignment and makes several cameo appearances in the movie What the Bleep Do We Know!? as the stop where Marlee Matlin's character boards the train to get into town.
Kings Hill/Southwest Salmon Street is a former light rail station in Portland, Oregon, United States, which was served by the Blue and Red lines of TriMet's MAX Light Rail. The station was situated within the Goose Hollow neighborhood. Its incorrectly punctuated name refers to the hillside to the west of the station, which has historically been referred to as King's Hill. A section of King's Hill, which contains many historic buildings, qualified for inclusion within the King's Hill Historic District, the easternmost boundary of which is at SW 21st Avenue.
Goose Hollow is a neighborhood in southwest Portland, Oregon. It acquired its distinctive name through early residents' practice of letting their geese run free in Tanner Creek Gulch and near the wooded ravine in the Tualatin Mountains known as the Tanner Creek Canyon. Tanner Creek Gulch was a 20-block-long, 50-foot-deep (15 m) gulch that started around SW 17th and Jefferson and carried the waters of Tanner Creek into Couch Lake. Over a century ago, Tanner Creek was buried 50 feet (15 m) underground, and the Tanner Creek Gulch was filled in. The only remaining part of the hollow is the ravine, Tanner Creek Canyon, carved out by Tanner Creek through which The Sunset Highway carrying US-26 passes and which the Vista Bridge spans, also called the Vista Viaduct.
The Vista Ridge Tunnels are highway tunnels through the Tualatin Mountains of Portland, Oregon, United States. Located in the Goose Hollow neighborhood, the tunnels pass through a hillside locally known as Vista Ridge which is a half mile (1 km) west of downtown Portland. Sunset Highway, also known as U.S. Route 26, is carried through the tunnels, three lanes in each direction. They are Oregon's busiest tunnels.
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.
Canyon Road is a 6.5 mi (10.5 km) major road and partial state highway, which serves as a connector between Beaverton and Portland, Oregon, United States. It was the first major road constructed between the Tualatin Valley and Portland, and has contributed significantly to Portland becoming the area's major deep water port, and subsequent early growth of the city. The total modern length is 6.5 miles (10.5 km), and 2.7 miles (4.3 km) of the route is coterminous with U.S. Route 26. In addition, the segment of the road signed as Oregon Route 8 under the name Canyon Road spans for 3.8 miles (6.1 km). There is an additional, small portion of a driveway in the Oregon Zoo parking lot that is also named Canyon Road; this is a continuation of a local suburban street named Canyon Court.
Council Crest Park is a city park in southwest Portland in the U.S. state of Oregon. Amenities include paved and unpaved paths, a dog off-leash area, picnic tables, public art, a view point, and a wedding site that can be reserved. The 43.51-acre (17.61 ha) park, operated by Portland Parks & Recreation, is open year-round from 5 a.m. to midnight. It was the site of an amusement park from 1907 until 1929.
The Dr. Noble Wiley Jones House is a house located in the Goose Hollow neighborhood of southwest Portland, Oregon. Built in 1911, the house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1988.
The Morris Marks House is a house located in southwest Portland, Oregon listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It is located in the Goose Hollow neighborhood, just southwest of downtown Portland. Designed by Portland architect Warren Heywood Williams in an Italianate style, the house was built for Morris Marks, a Portland shoe merchant of Polish descent, in 1882. It was originally located at S.W. 11th Avenue and Clay Street, but in the early 1900s was moved to 1501 S.W. Harrison Street, where it has remained ever since.
The West Ankeny Car Barns Bay E is a former streetcar carbarn in Portland, Oregon, that is listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places. Completed in 1911, it was one of three buildings that collectively made up the Ankeny Car Barns complex of the Portland Railway, Light and Power Company (PRL&P), the owner and operator of Portland's streetcar system at the time. By 1978, the brick building had become the only surviving structure from the Ankeny complex and one of only two surviving remnants of carbarn complexes of the Portland area's large street railway and interurban system of the past, the other being the PRL&P's Sellwood Division Carbarn Office and Clubhouse.
Southeast Bybee Boulevard is a light rail station in Portland, Oregon, United States, served by TriMet as part of the MAX Light Rail system. It is the 14th station southbound on the Orange Line, which runs between Portland City Center, Southeast Portland, and Milwaukie. The island platform station adjoins Union Pacific Railroad (UP) freight tracks to the east and McLoughlin Boulevard to the west. It is accessed from the Bybee Bridge, which spans over the platform and connects Portland's Sellwood-Moreland and Eastmoreland neighborhoods. Nearby destinations include Westmoreland Park, Eastmoreland Golf Course, Crystal Springs Rhododendron Garden, and Reed College.
Tanner Creek is a small tributary of the Willamette River in Portland in the U.S. state of Oregon. Named after a tannery owned by one of the city's founders, it begins in what is now the Sylvan–Highlands neighborhood in the Tualatin Mountains west of downtown. In the 19th century the creek flowed on the surface, running northeast across the city, past what later became Providence Park and into a shallow lake and wetlands in what became the Pearl District, bordering the river.
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. The second bridge, built in 1900, has alternatively been referred to as the "rebuilt" Madison Street Bridge, 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.