The George Abernethy Bridge, or simply Abernethy Bridge, is a steel plate and box girder

bridge A bridge is a structure built to span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or rail) without blocking the way underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, which is usually somethi ...

that spans 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 ...

between

Oregon City ) , image_skyline = McLoughlin House.jpg , imagesize = , image_caption = The McLoughlin House, est. 1845 , image_flag = , image_seal = Oregon City seal.png , image_map ...

and

West Linn, Oregon West Linn is a city in Clackamas County, Oregon, United States. A southern suburb within the Portland metropolitan area, West Linn developed on the site of the former Linn City, which was named after U.S. Senator Lewis F. Linn of Ste. Genevieve ...

, United States, and which carries Interstate 205. It is also known as the Oregon City Freeway Bridge and the I-205 Bridge. The bridge was dedicated and opened on May 28, 1970, and cost $17.1 million to construct. It is named for

George Abernethy George Abernethy (October 7, 1807 – March 2, 1877) was an American politician, pioneer, notable entrepreneur, and first governor of Oregon under the provisional government based in the Willamette Valley, an area later a part of the American sta ...

, who was the governor of the

Provisional Government A provisional government, also called an interim government, an emergency government, or a transitional government, is an emergency governmental authority set up to manage a political transition generally in the cases of a newly formed state or f ...

of the

Oregon Country Oregon Country was a large region of the Pacific Northwest of North America that was subject to a long dispute between the United Kingdom and the United States in the early 19th century. The area, which had been created by the Treaty of 1818, co ...

from 1845 to 1849 and later an Oregon City businessman. An approximately $7 million seismic retrofit began in 2000 and was completed in 2002. In 2008, the average traffic was 95,500 vehicles per day.

Description

The bridge structure contains 15 spans and 60 girders. The total length is , and the vertical clearance at low river levels is . The longest span is and is sandwiched by two spans. The bridge carries six lanes of traffic (three in each direction—two through lanes, and one merging lane). Interchanges are located at each end of the bridge: On the western end (in

West Linn West Linn is a city in Clackamas County, Oregon, United States. A southern suburb within the Portland metropolitan area, West Linn developed on the site of the former Linn City, which was named after U.S. Senator Lewis F. Linn of Ste. Genevie ...

) is an interchange with

Oregon Route 43 Oregon Route 43 is an Oregon state highway that runs between the cities of Oregon City and Portland, mostly along the western flank of the Willamette River. While it is technically known by the Oregon Department of Transportation as the Osweg ...

; on the eastern end (in Oregon City) is an interchange with

OR 99E Oregon Route 99E is an Oregon state highway that runs between Junction City, Oregon and an interchange with I-5 just south of the Oregon/Washington border, in Portland. It, along with OR 99W, makes up a split of OR 99 in the northern part of the ...

. The bridge is somewhat unusual in that its western approach is located on a bluff overlooking the river, whereas the eastern end is located in a lowland just south of the confluence of the Willamette and Clackamas rivers; as a result, westbound traffic on I-205 travels uphill the entire length of the bridge, and continues uphill for another half-mile before the freeway summits and heads back downhill, into the lower Tualatin River basin.

History

Construction of a new east–west bridge between West Linn and Oregon City was approved by the Oregon State Highway Commission in January 1964. The proposed bridge was later incorporated into the plans for I-205 in 1965 after it was relocated away from a routing through Lake Oswego. Construction began in early 1968 and was completed on May 28, 1970, at a cost of $17.1 million; it was originally scheduled to open in December 1969. Several West Linn citizens staged an unofficial "opening" on April 1 to jokingly dedicate the bridge as the "West Linn Bridge". The city later changed its seal to include a depiction of the bridge. In 2009, the

Oregon Department of Transportation The Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) is a department of the state government of the U.S. state of Oregon responsible for systems of transportation. It was first established in 1969. It had been preceded by the Oregon State Highway Depar ...

spent $7 million to repave the roadway and replace the expansion joints on the bridge. In 2017, the Oregon Department of Transportation launched a project to widen I205 to three lanes between the Abernethy Bridge and Stafford Road. Part of the proposed plan includes removing the Highway 43 to I-205 northbound onramp and widening the Abernethy Bridge.

References

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, bridge = George Abernethy Bridge , bridge signs = , upstream =

Oregon City Bridge The Oregon City Bridge, also known as the Arch Bridge, is a steel through arch bridge spanning the Willamette River between Oregon City and West Linn, Oregon, United States. Completed in 1922, it is listed on the National Register of Historic P ...

, upstream signs = , downstream =

Lake Oswego Railroad Bridge The Lake Oswego Railroad Bridge (also known as the Union Pacific Railroad Bridge at Lake Oswego and formerly as the ''Southern Pacific Railroad Bridge at Lake Oswego'') is a truss railroad bridge that spans the Willamette River between Lake Oswego ...

, downstream signs = Bridges completed in 1970 Buildings and structures in Oregon City, Oregon West Linn, Oregon Bridges in Clackamas County, Oregon Bridges over the Willamette River Plate girder bridges in the United States Box girder bridges in the United States Road bridges in Oregon Interstate 5 Bridges on the Interstate Highway System 1970 establishments in Oregon Steel bridges in the United States

Description

History

See also

References