Timeline of Bridges in Portland

By GZG48

  • Morrison Street Bridge Opened

    This was the first bridge across the Willamette River and the longest Bridge in the West. It was a wooden, truss swing span Bridge.

  • The Steel Bridge is Built

    As the first railroad bridge across the Willamette, it was quite unique in the the aspect that the bridge was made out of steel instead of the more common, wrought iron at the time.

  • Burnside Bridge Construction Begins

    This was the starting date of the two year constuction ahead.

  • Burnside Bridge Construction Finishes

    After two years of long construction, the bridge is opened to the public.

  • Construction of The Burlington North Railroad Bridge Begins

    First designed by Ralph Modjeski In 1905, the swing span bridge design was fairly popular at the time, but came with some problems.

  • Burlington North Railroad Bridge Completed

    With over two years of construction and tests of the swing span taking place, the first train was able to cross on October 8, 1908. Three months after construction was complete.

  • Hawthorne Bridge Completed

    Built to replace the wooden Morrison Street Bridge, The Hawthorne Bridge is a vertical-lift and parker truss design made out of steel that allows vehicles, pedestrians, and cyclists across.

  • Construction Of The Current Steel Bridge Begins

    The current version of the Steel Bridge started construction in 1912 with the new design of a through truss and a double vertical-lift span compared to the swing span.

  • Current Steel Bridge Completed

    Finishing the upgrade from the swing-span design, the new Steel Bridge opened to the public in July of the same year.

  • Broadway Bridge opens to the public

    The said to be longest bascule bridge at the time, the bridge opened to the public in April, 1913

  • The Original Sellwood Bridge Opens

    Closed over 91 years later, this truss bridge opened to the public in 1925.

  • The Ross Island Bridge Is Constructed and Opened

    With a cost of $2 million dollars, the Ross Island Bridge was apart of a spree of bridge building in the 1920's.

  • St. Johns Bridge Opens To The Public

    Designed by a internationally renowned engineer David Steinman, this suspension bridge costed $4.25 million.

  • The Marquam Bridge Opens

    At a cost of $14 million, this cantilever truss bridge opened its lower half 14 days before the top half.

  • Fremont Bridge Opens

    With over two years of construction and a major setback that costed millions to repair, the bridge finally opened in October of 1971.

  • Conversion of the Burlington North Railroad Bridge

    As the swing span bridge design proved to be problematic, conversion of the swing span design to a vertical-lift design took place in 1989

  • The Marquam Bridge Goes Through The First Sesmic Retrofit

  • Tilikum Crossing Starts Construction

    As one of the first major bridge to only be for pedestians, construction began in 2011.

  • Tilikum Crossing Opens

    Although the intial bridge was finished in 2014, the bridge officially opened in 2015.

  • The Current Sellwood Bridge Reopens

    From a truss bridge to a deck arch bridge, the converted bridge opened on the 29th of Feburary.