HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Burlington Northern Railroad Bridge 9.6 or BNSF Railway Bridge 9.6, also known as the Columbia River Railroad Bridge, is
through truss A truss bridge is a bridge whose load-bearing superstructure is composed of a truss, a structure of connected elements, usually forming triangular units. The connected elements (typically straight) may be stressed from tension, compression, o ...
railway bridge across the
Columbia River The Columbia River ( Upper Chinook: ' or '; Sahaptin: ''Nch’i-Wàna'' or ''Nchi wana''; Sinixt dialect'' '') is the largest river in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. The river rises in the Rocky Mountains of British Columbia ...
, between Portland,
Oregon Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...
, and
Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the city, up from 631,486 in 2016. ...
,
Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...
, owned and operated by
BNSF Railway BNSF Railway is one of the largest freight railroads in North America. One of seven North American Class I railroads, BNSF has 35,000 employees, of track in 28 states, and nearly 8,000 locomotives. It has three transcontinental routes that ...
. Built by the Spokane, Portland and Seattle Railway (SP&S) and completed in 1908, it was the first bridge of any kind to be built across the lower Columbia River, preceding the first road bridge, the nearby
Interstate Bridge The Interstate Bridge (also Columbia River Interstate Bridge, I-5 Bridge, Portland-Vancouver Interstate Bridge, Vancouver-Portland Bridge) is a pair of nearly identical steel vertical-lift, Parker through-truss bridges that carry Interstate 5 ...
, by a little more than eight years. The bridge has a
swing span A swing bridge (or swing span bridge) is a movable bridge that has as its primary structural support a vertical locating pin and support ring, usually at or near to its center of gravity, about which the swing span (turning span) can then pi ...
, which pivots on its base to allow for the passage of taller ships. The bridge carries two railroad tracks, which are used by BNSF,
Union Pacific Railroad The Union Pacific Railroad , legally Union Pacific Railroad Company and often called simply Union Pacific, is a freight-hauling railroad that operates 8,300 locomotives over routes in 23 U.S. states west of Chicago and New Orleans. Union Paci ...
, and
Amtrak The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, doing business as Amtrak () , is the national passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates inter-city rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous U.S. States and nine cities in Canada. ...
. It is one of only two surviving swing-span bridges in the
Portland metropolitan area The Portland metropolitan area is a metro area in the U.S. states of Oregon and Washington centered on the principal city of Portland, Oregon. The U.S. Office of Management and Budget (OMB) identifies it as the Portland–Vancouver–Hillsboro, ...
, which once had several bridges of that type. The other survivor is another BNSF bridge located nearby, on the same line and built at the same time, the
Oregon Slough Railroad Bridge The Oregon Slough Railroad Bridge, also known as the BNSF Railway Bridge 8.8, is a swing-span, through truss bridge in Portland, Oregon, United States. Currently owned and operated by BNSF Railway, it crosses an anabranch of the Columbia Rive ...
(also known as BNSF Railway Bridge 8.8). The 9.6 in the name is the distance, in miles, from Portland's
Union Station A union station (also known as a union terminal, a joint station in Europe, and a joint-use station in Japan) is a railway station at which the tracks and facilities are shared by two or more separate railway companies, allowing passengers to ...
, the same as for Bridge 5.1 (across the
Willamette River The Willamette River ( ) is a major tributary of the Columbia River, accounting for 12 to 15 percent of the Columbia's flow. The Willamette's main stem is long, lying entirely in northwestern Oregon in the United States. Flowing northward b ...
) and Bridge 8.8 on the same line.


History

Construction of a single-track railroad bridge at the same location was started in 1890, engineered by George S. Morison for the Portland & Puget Sound Railroad Company (affiliated with Union Pacific), but that project was abandoned at an early stage. In 1905, another crossing of the Columbia River was proposed, this time by the
Northern Pacific Railway The Northern Pacific Railway was a transcontinental railroad that operated across the northern tier of the western United States, from Minnesota to the Pacific Northwest. It was approved by Congress in 1864 and given nearly of land grants, wh ...
(NP), for use by the newly formed Portland & Seattle Railway. The Portland & Seattle had been formed jointly by NP and Great Northern Railway, to build and ultimately operate new railroad lines from Portland to
Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest region o ...
and Portland to
Spokane Spokane ( ) is the largest city and county seat of Spokane County, Washington, United States. It is in eastern Washington, along the Spokane River, adjacent to the Selkirk Mountains, and west of the Rocky Mountain foothills, south of the Ca ...
, but was renamed ''Spokane'', Portland & Seattle Railway (SP&S) – in early 1908, before opening any track sections – after construction of the Portland–Spokane line got under way before the Seattle line. The planned new railroad was commonly referred to as the "North Bank road" (road being short for railroad or railroad line), or North Bank line, because the Seattle line would follow the Columbia River's north bank as far as Kelso and the Spokane line would also follow the north bank, running east from Vancouver. East from Portland, the south bank of the Columbia already had a rail line, owned by the
Oregon Railroad and Navigation Company The Oregon Railroad and Navigation Company (OR&N) was a railroad that operated a rail network of running east from Portland, Oregon, United States, to northeastern Oregon, northeastern Washington, and northern Idaho. It operated from 1896 as a ...
(later absorbed by
Union Pacific Railroad The Union Pacific Railroad , legally Union Pacific Railroad Company and often called simply Union Pacific, is a freight-hauling railroad that operates 8,300 locomotives over routes in 23 U.S. states west of Chicago and New Orleans. Union Paci ...
). The bridge was part of an overall planned new line from
Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the city, up from 631,486 in 2016. ...
to Northwest Portland, which included three major new bridges: the Columbia River Bridge, Oregon Slough Bridge and Willamette Drawbridge. Northern Pacific hired bridge builder
Ralph Modjeski Ralph Modjeski (born Rudolf Modrzejewski; January 27, 1861 – June 26, 1940) was a Polish-American civil engineer who achieved prominence as "America's greatest bridge builder." Life He was born in Bochnia, called Galicia at the time, on Janu ...
to design all three. On November 14, 1905, the SP&S board approved Modjeski's recommendations. Plans for the bridges were submitted to the
War Department War Department may refer to: * War Department (United Kingdom) * United States Department of War (1789–1947) See also * War Office, a former department of the British Government * Ministry of defence * Ministry of War * Ministry of Defence * D ...
, and eventually approved in February 1906. Pier 2 of the Columbia River bridge, the pier on which the swing-span section pivots, was built as part of the canceled 1890 project, and was incorporated into the plans for the 1906 bridge. The first work was performed on February 8, 1906, when work crews began framing the
caissons Caisson (French for "box") may refer to: * Caisson (Asian architecture), a spider web ceiling * Caisson (engineering), a sealed underwater structure * Caisson (lock gate), a gate for a dock or lock, constructed as a floating caisson * Caisson (p ...
. The steel was fabricated by the
American Bridge Company The American Bridge Company is a heavy/civil construction firm that specializes in building and renovating bridges and other large, complex structures. Founded in 1900, the company is headquartered in Coraopolis, Pennsylvania, a suburb of Pitt ...
of New York. Construction took approximately 26 months. Steel construction at the site began on June 15, 1907. Structural work on the bridge was completed in June 1908, but its opening to traffic was delayed by problems concerning installation of the heavy machinery required to turn the huge swing span on the new Willamette River bridge located on the same line. The span was the first bridge of any kind to be built across the lower Columbia River, preceding the first road bridge, the nearby
Interstate Bridge The Interstate Bridge (also Columbia River Interstate Bridge, I-5 Bridge, Portland-Vancouver Interstate Bridge, Vancouver-Portland Bridge) is a pair of nearly identical steel vertical-lift, Parker through-truss bridges that carry Interstate 5 ...
, by a little more than eight years. The first train crossed the span on October 23, 1908, and the bridge opened for regular use in November 1908. This completed the initial SP&S route, between Portland and Pasco. Ownership and operation of the bridge passed to the
Burlington Northern Railroad The Burlington Northern Railroad was a United States-based railroad company formed from a merger of four major U.S. railroads. Burlington Northern operated between 1970 and 1996. Its historical lineage begins in the earliest days of railroadi ...
(BN) in 1970, when SP&S, Northern Pacific and other railroads merged to form BN. At the end of 1996, BN merged with the
Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway , often referred to as the Santa Fe or AT&SF, was one of the larger railroads in the United States. The railroad was chartered in February 1859 to serve the cities of Atchison and Topeka, Kansas, and ...
(Santa Fe), becoming the
Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway BNSF Railway is one of the largest freight railroads in North America. One of seven North American Class I railroads, BNSF has 35,000 employees, of track in 28 states, and nearly 8,000 locomotives. It has three transcontinental routes th ...
(officially shortened to BNSF Railway in 2005).


Operation

The swing span is located at the bridge's north end, in
Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...
, a short distance from the Vancouver Amtrak station. All trains using the bridge are required to call the bridge tender to obtain permission to cross. A bridge tender is on duty 24 hours a day, year-round. Boats requesting an opening should contact the bridge over VHF channel 13 using call sign KQ 9049. The bridge's swing span is opened for river traffic an average of 12 times per day.


See also

*
North Bank Depot Buildings The North Bank Depot Buildings, in central Portland, Oregon, United States, are a pair of buildings formerly used as a freight warehouse and passenger terminal for the Spokane, Portland and Seattle Railway (SP&S). Formed in 1905, the SP&S wa ...


References


External links

* {{Hayden Island, Portland, Oregon Railroad bridges in Washington (state) Railroad bridges in Oregon Bridges completed in 1908 Swing bridges in the United States Bridges over the Columbia River Bridges in Portland, Oregon Bridges in Vancouver, Washington BNSF Railway bridges Spokane, Portland and Seattle Railway Northern Pacific Railway 1908 establishments in Oregon Hayden Island, Portland, Oregon North Portland, Oregon Swing bridges in Oregon 1908 establishments in Washington (state) Steel bridges in the United States Pratt truss bridges in the United States