Broadway Bridge (Portland) - History and Description

History and Description

The designer of the bridge was Polish-American engineer Ralph Modjeski. The bridge was opened on April 22, 1913 at a cost of $1.6 million. Because it was to be the world's largest bascule bridge, there was competition between the patent holders of the Strauss, Scherzer, and Rall type bridges. The Rall type was selected for the Broadway Bridge because of cost, but the more complicated rolling lift mechanisms of the Scherzer and Rall types eventually lost favor to the simpler fixed-trunnion bascules such as the Chicago and Strauss.

The bridge carries two lanes of vehicle traffic in each direction and has an 11-foot (3.4 m) wide sidewalk along each side. As of 2001 the bridge carried 27,000 vehicles per day and opened for river traffic around 25 times per month. It is also one of the main bridges for bicycle traffic crossing the Willamette in Portland, with over 2,000 daily bicycle crossings. It is painted Golden Gate red, also known as international orange.

Because it is such a complicated bridge, there have been frequent repairs to the structure and mechanics of the bridge. In 1948, the concrete deck was replaced with steel grating. During 1982, access for bicyclists was improved by an $18,000 signal and sidewalk upgrade. In order to improve access and reduce energy costs, the sidewalks and lighting were replaced in 2000–2001. The Lovejoy Viaduct was removed in 1999 as part of the $10 million construction of the shorter Lovejoy Ramp that opened in September 2001. A $28 million renovation began in February 2003. Included in this was the replacement of steel grating with a fiber-reinforced polymer composite material called DuraSpan, made by Martin Marietta Materials. The renovation was completed in February 2005.

Starting July 6, 2010, the bridge was temporarily closed to all traffic (closure started on July 19 for pedestrians and bikes) for two months, to permit the laying of streetcar tracks for an extension of the Portland Streetcar system. The bridge reopened (two of four lanes) on September 4. Streetcars had previously crossed the bridge, from the time of its opening in 1913 until 1940, but the original tracks and wires had since been removed. Trolley buses also used the Broadway Bridge, from 1937 to 1958. The new streetcar line that crosses the bridge opened in September 2012. The bridge was added to the National Register of Historic Places in November 2012.