Sellwood Bridge

The Sellwood Bridge is a truss bridge that spans the Willamette River in Portland, Oregon, in the United States. It was Portland's first fixed-span bridge and, being the only river crossing for miles in each direction, is the busiest two-lane bridge in Oregon. It links the Sellwood and Westmoreland neighborhoods of Portland on the east side with Oregon Route 43/Macadam Avenue on the west side. At its east end it leads to Tacoma Street. The bridge is owned and operated by Multnomah County.

Designed by Gustav Lindenthal, the bridge opened on December 15, 1925 at a final cost of $541,000. It is 1,971 feet (601 m) long with 75 feet (23 m) of vertical waterway clearance. It has four continuous spans, all of Warren type. The two center spans are 300 feet (91 m) long, and the two outside spans are 246 feet (75 m) each. The girders from the old Burnside Bridge (built in 1894) were reused at each end. The two-lane roadway is 24 feet (7.3 m) wide. There is a sidewalk on the downstream side only, with a width of 4 feet 3 inches (1.30 m); however, the street light foundations share space with the sidewalk, making the sidewalk's usable width at those points about 3 feet (36 inches, 91 cm). Allowing for safety clearances, there is less than 2 feet (24 inches, 61 cm) of usable sidewalk. The Bicycle Transportation Alliance lists the Sellwood Bridge as one of the top ten priorities for improving Portland's bicycling.

The bridge's condition has been deteriorating since the 1960s, and it is now set to be replaced by a new bridge, construction of which is targeted to begin in 2012; however as of mid-2011, $25 million was still needed. In an October 2011 study, the Department of Transportation wrote that the Sellwood Bridge must be replaced 'immediately'. On December 15, 2011, the county received US federal funding sufficient to begin immediate work on a replacement. On July 19, 2012, Multnomah County commissioners approved a $299 million design for a new bridge.