Sunday, December 9, 2007

Oops! I almost forgot the Burnside Bridge!

When I said come back today for the Steel Bridge, I got ahead of myself going north. I jumped right over the Burnside Bridge. I took this photo from the west side of the Willamette River, looking south. I took these photos on Saturday, Dec. 8, while out and about.
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Wikipedia: The Burnside Bridge is a bascule bridge that spans the Willamette River in Portland, Oregon. The bridge opened on May 28, 1926 at a final cost of $4.5 million (including approaches). It is the only Willamette River bridge in Portland that was designed with input from an architect. This led to the Italian Renaissance towers and decorative metal railing. ... Electric streetcar tracks were removed in the 1940s. In 1995 one of the six lanes was removed to accommodate new bicycle lanes. From March until November of 2002 the bridge went through a $2.1 million seismic retrofit, making it the first bridge operated by Multnomah County to receive earthquake protection. The bridge is currently under construction in order to replace the deck. The electric streetcar tracks, removed in the 1940s, are now visible again. This project is budgeted at $9 million and scheduled to be complete in late 2007.

The Burnside Bridge renovation was the subject of my first CDPB post on Sept. 1, 2007.

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While lowered this span is normally 64 ft (20 m) above the river. The deck is made of concrete, which factors in it being one of the heaviest bascule bridges in the United States. The counterweights, housed inside the two piers, weigh 1,700 tons. The lifting is normally controlled by the Hawthorne Bridge operator, but an operator mans the west tower during high river levels.

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Here's another tour boat, the Portland Spirit, cruising beneath the Burnside Bridge. Read all about it here.

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I've been seeing seagulls in Portland since October, 2006. Maybe it was because when we moved to the Northwest Hills, I had to cross the river twice a day to get to work.

8 comments:

Jim Klenke said...

Portland has a lot of bridges and all have their own look. Its nice they are restoring the older ones. Where I grew up (St. Louis) the older bridges are closed and allowed to rot, well that is unless they have been removed.

Andrea said...

Isn't it amazing how they build bridges? Nice pictures and wonderful posts you have shared with us.

dot said...

It sure does cost a bundle to build a bridge. I would like the bicycle lanes.

J. Andrew Lockhart said...

Nice pictures! I've always loved bridges.

Annie said...

Hi Lynette, I came back to see the other bridge and got a bonus!

Fénix - Bostonscapes said...

We have quite a few bridges in Boston, but I think you guys have more and bigger ones.

Olivier said...

J'aime beaucoup la dernière photo avec les mouettes. bravo pour cette série sur les ponts

I love the last photo with seagulls. Bravo for this series on bridges

Neva said...

I love your bridge pictures!