BNSF/Spokane, Portland & Seattle Bridge over Willamette River in Portland, OR

(Bridge Hunter, no Historic Bridges, 3D Satellite)

"1908 Built with swing span, 1989 Vertical lift replaces swing span." [Bridge Hunter] The normal reason for replacing a swing span with a lift span is to more than double the width of the navigation channel.

Steven J. Brown posted
Amtrak Cascades #504 at the Willamette River Drawbridge in Portland, Oregon - August 1, 2017.
Adam Hinkle That bridge was converted from a swing bridge to a lift in 24 hrs. The towers and span was pre fabed....but still tearing out the swing span and piers and dreadging and installation of the new span....amazing!
Bob Harbison That was an amazing project. I played a small part in that, we built the track on the new bridge, while it was in a drydock upstream a mile or two from the site.

When I saw all that wilderness, I wondered if I had the correct bridge. That is, how could this bridge be in a city? The answer is the city is squeezed up next to a mountain on one side. And it looks like some government did not allow the development of a flood plane on the other side. Or else there was an industry there and the land is too contaminated to develop. Looking up and down the river on the satellite image, I'd say the later is the case.

HAER ORE,26-PORT,8--45 from or0150

45. Photocopy of postcard (from copy print at Oregon Historical Society, Portland, neg. no. 74133, ca. 1910) SP&S BRIDGE OVER WILLAMETTE RIVER - Burlington Northern Railroad Bridge, Spanning Willamette River at River Mile 6.9, Portland, Multnomah County, OR

Bridges Now and Then posted
The Willamette River Swing Bridge opens for a floating dry dock, Portland, Oregon, 1978. (Historic Structures)

Thomas Thomayer: Memories, I was operating the tug on the left, Tidewater’s Captain Bob .

We slid the dry dock on the wood pivot pier protection and you could reach out and touch the pier on the right side of the dry dock.

It was tight.

Steven J Brown shared
Union Pacific stack train crossing the Willamette River in Portland, Oregon - February 12, 2015.
Steven J Brown shared

Bridges Now and Then posted
July 2, 2011 - "The Burlington Northern Railroad [now BNSF] Bridge 5.1, spanning the Willamette River, in Portland, Oregon, seen here being crossed by a special excursion train hauled by Portland-based steam locomotive Southern Pacific 4449. The 516 ft (157 m)-long vertical-lift span, which replaced a 1908 swing span in 1989, is one of the highest such spans in the world, giving a clearance of 200 feet (61 m) below when fully raised. This view is looking west, with Forest Park in the background." ~from Wikipedia, photo by Steve Morgan.

Marty Bernard posted
4. On April 20, 2009 Train 14 had just crossed the Willamette River when its portrait was taken from the Willamette Boulevard Bridge in N.W. Portland.

Vance Pomerening commented on Marty's post
This is actually North Portland. Portland is kind of weird in having 5 "quadrants."
When it was still a swing bridge: https://youtu.be/VHe1jZQEZTg