thumb|With lower deck telescoped into upper deck and lift span almost fully raised

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 (on the Pacific Highway West No. 1W, former Oregon Route 99W), 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.

History

The bridge was completed in 1912 and replaced the previous Steel Bridge built in 1888 as a double-deck swing-span bridge. The 1888 structure was the first railroad bridge across the Willamette River in Portland. Its name originated because steel, instead of wrought iron, was used in the original bridge's construction, which was very unusual for the time. When the current Steel Bridge opened, it was simply given its predecessor's name.

The bridge was designed by the engineering firm of Waddell & Harrington, which was based in Kansas City, Missouri, but also had an office in Portland. The structure was built by Union Pacific Railroad and the Oregon-Washington Railroad and Navigation Company (OWR&N) at a cost of $1.7 million (equivalent to $ million in ). It opened in July 1912 to rail traffic and on August 9, 1912, to automobiles. (Many years later, in 1986, electric transit vehicles returned to the bridge in the form of MAX Light Rail and later the Portland Vintage Trolley.)

In 1950, the Steel Bridge and its newly reconstructed approaches became part of a new U.S. 99W highway

In 1972, the bridge became part of Route 99W, replacing the US 99W designation. Harbor Drive, and by extension the ramps onto it from the bridge, was demolished from 1972 to 1974. It was replaced by Tom McCall Waterfront Park.

thumb|left|A westbound [[MAX Blue Line train crossing the bridge in 2009. Four of the five MAX lines cross the Steel Bridge. More than 600 MAX trips cross the bridge each weekday. It reopened on May 31, 1986. Completion and testing of the light-rail tracks and overhead wires across the bridge took place during the next three months and the light rail line opened for service on September 5, 1986. The center was under construction at that time and opened in 1990.

In 2001,

thumb|right|An [[Amtrak Cascades train crossing the bridge]]

thumb|c1890 photo of the original steel bridge photographed from the east end

The average daily traffic in 2000 was 23,100 vehicles (including many TriMet buses), 200 MAX trains, 40 freight and Amtrak trains, and 500 bicycles. The construction of the lower-deck walkway connected to the Eastbank Esplanade resulted in a sharp increase in bicycle traffic, with over 2,100 daily bicycle crossings in 2005. MAX traffic has tripled since 2000, when only the Gresham–Hillsboro line (now the Blue Line) was using the bridge, to 605 daily crossings (weekdays) as of 2012.

In 2012, the Steel Bridge celebrated its 100th birthday. The Oregonian called it the "hardest-working" bridge on the Willamette River: "Cars, trucks, freight trains, buses, Amtrak, MAX, pedestrians, bicycles — you carry it all."

Structure and lift operation

thumb|View from roadway during a lift-span opening

The lift span of the bridge is long. At low river levels, the lower deck is above the water, and of vertical clearance is provided when both decks are raised. Because of the independent lifts, the lower deck can be raised to , telescoping into the upper deck but not disturbing it. Each deck has its own counterweights, two for the upper and eight for the lower, totaling .

The machinery house sits atop the upper-deck lift truss. The operator's room is suspended from the top of the lift-span truss, directly below the machinery house, so that the operator can view river traffic as well as the upper deck. After the 2001 addition of a pedestrian walkway on the lower deck, cameras and closed-circuit television monitors were added to allow the operator to view the lower-deck walkway.

2014 tightrope walking incident

Early in the morning of August 2, 2014, a man was seen attempting to tightrope walk across the steel cables used to help raise and lower the bridge's lift span, which are roughly 270 feet high.

Bystanders, who suspected that the man was either suicidal or under the influence of drugs, contacted local authorities and the bridge's operation was shut down.

The man appeared to take a photo of the sunrise before continuing to walk across the cables and then climbing down.

Police later identified the man as 21-year-old Benjamin Lovitz of Portland, who was charged with trespassing and disorderly conduct.

2024 freight train derailment

In the morning of April 29, 2024, several cars from a Union Pacific train derailed near the east end of the bridge.

The bridge was shut down for several hours before reopening to traffic later that day.

See also

  • List of bridges documented by the Historic American Engineering Record in Oregon
  • List of crossings of the Willamette River
  • Steel Bridge Skatepark

References

; General

; Specific

  • ODOT Steel Bridge page