Steel Bridge - History

History

The bridge was completed in 1912 and replaced the Steel Bridge that was 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 its construction, 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 Railway and Navigation Company at a cost of $1.7 million (equivalent to $41 million in 2012). It opened in July 1912 to rail traffic and on August 9, 1912 to automobiles. Streetcars crossed the bridge until 1948, with the conversion to buses of the last routes using it, but returned in 1986 in the form of MAX Light Rail and later the Portland Vintage Trolley.

In 1950, the Steel Bridge became an important part of a new U.S. 99W highway between Harbor Drive and Interstate Avenue. Harbor Drive was removed in 1974 and replaced with Tom McCall Waterfront Park.

In the mid-1980s, the bridge underwent a $10 million rehabilitation, including construction of the MAX light rail line. The span was closed to all traffic for two years, starting in June 1984. It reopened on May 31, 1986. Completion and testing of the light-rail tracks and overhead wires across the bridge took place during the months that followed, and the light rail line opened for service on September 5, 1986.

A single-lane viaduct that connected the bridge's east approach to another viaduct (still in existence) that takes traffic from southbound Interstate 5 to Interstate 84 was closed in 1988 and removed in 1989, as part of roadway changes intended to improve traffic flow around the Oregon Convention Center. The center was under construction at that time and opened in 1990.

In 2001, a 220-foot (67 m) long and 8-foot (2.4 m) wide cantilevered walkway was installed on the southern side of the bridge's lower deck as part of the Eastbank Esplanade construction, raising to three the number of publicly accessible walkways across the bridge, including the two narrow sidewalks on the upper deck. The bridge is owned by Union Pacific with the upper deck leased to Oregon Department of Transportation, and subleased to TriMet, while the City of Portland is responsible for the approaches.

The upper deck was closed again for summer 2008 for maintenance and to allow a junction to be built at the west end for the MAX Green Line. The lower deck of the bridge was threatened by major floods in 1948, 1964, and 1996.

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