The Marquam Bridge is a double-deck, steel-truss cantilever bridgeBottenberg, R. (2007). ''Bridges of Portland''. Arcadia Publishing. Retrieved on June 20, 2012
/ref> that carries

Interstate 5 Interstate 5 (I-5) is the main north–south Interstate Highway on the West Coast of the United States, running largely parallel to the Pacific coast of the contiguous U.S. from Mexico to Canada. It travels through the states of Californi ...

traffic 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 ...

from south of downtown

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, Portland is the county seat of Multnomah County, the most populous ...

, on the west side to the industrial area of inner

Southeast The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each sepa ...

on the east. It is the busiest bridge in

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 ...

, carrying 140,500 vehicles a day as of 2016. The upper deck carries northbound traffic; the lower deck carries southbound traffic. The Marquam also has on and off ramps for Interstate 405 on the south end of the bridge, while the terminus on the east bank of the river is near the interchange with Interstate 84.

History

Planning for the span started in 1956 as the last link in Oregon for the new

Interstate Highway System The Dwight D. Eisenhower National System of Interstate and Defense Highways, commonly known as the Interstate Highway System, is a network of controlled-access highways that forms part of the National Highway System in the United States. T ...

for the main north-south route through the state. Even prior to construction, it was decided to name the span after Philip Marquam. Marquam was a state legislator and

Multnomah County Multnomah County is one of the 36 counties in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2020 census, the county's population was 815,428. Multnomah County is part of the Portland–Vancouver– Hillsboro, OR–WA Metropolitan Statistical Area. Th ...

judge, who owned much of

Marquam Hill Marquam Hill is a populated hill located just south of Downtown Portland, Oregon, United States in the Homestead neighborhood. It is also called Pill Hill because it is home to Oregon Health & Science University, Portland VA Medical Center and ...

where

Oregon Health & Science University Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) is a public research university focusing primarily on health sciences with a main campus, including two hospitals, in Portland, Oregon. The institution was founded in 1887 as the University of Oregon ...

and the

Veterans Affairs Medical Center The Veterans Health Administration (VHA) is the component of the United States Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) led by the Under Secretary of Veterans Affairs for Health that implements the healthcare program of the VA through a nationa ...

now stand. Construction on the bridge's support piers began in January 1962. Construction on the bridge finished on February 28, 1966. The lower southbound deck was opened on October 4, 1966, and the upper northbound deck on October 18, 1966. MarquamBridgeHill

The bridge was designed and built by 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 Depart ...

at a cost of $14 million, equivalent to $ today. Funds for the project came from the Federal Highway Transportation Act. The bridge was redecked in 1983. In 1990, the approach lanes from both the east and west were widened to allow four lanes of traffic and an off-ramp to Water Avenue was built. Due to its importance, the Marquam was the first Portland bridge to undergo a seismic retrofit in 1995, which included installation of Italian made bearings add to the piers.

Design

The main span of the bridge is long and the two side spans are each for a total length of . Vertical clearance of the lower deck is and the upper deck is above the lower. The Marquam was designed by Ivan D. Merchant and

Pieter Kiewit Sons Company Kiewit Corporation is an American privately held construction company based in Omaha, Nebraska founded in 1884. In 2021, it was ranked 243rd on the Fortune 500. Privately held, it is one of the largest construction and engineering organizations ...

served as the general contractor. At the eastern end of the bridge, on the lower deck, is a

ramp stub An unused highway is a highway or highway ramp that was partially or fully constructed, but went unused or was later closed. An unused roadway or ramp may often be referred to as an abandoned road, ghost road, highway to nowhere, stub ramp, g ...

which was intended to connect to the later abandoned

Mount Hood Freeway The Mount Hood Freeway is a partially constructed but never to be completed freeway alignment of U.S. Route 26 and Interstate 80N (now Interstate 84), which would have run through southeast Portland, Oregon. Related projects would have cont ...

project. The bridge was designed with four lanes in each direction. It was the first double-deck freeway bridge in the state. Part of the design process also utilized computers for various calculations. The Marquam Bridge was built with economy in mind and the public at large reacted unfavorably to the structure's bland aesthetics, which included a formal protest from the Portland Arts Commission. (In particular, it blocked the view of downtown from the Union Avenue Viaduct.) This led to public input in the design of the Fremont Bridge. During Mayor

Vera Katz Vera Katz (née Pistrak; August 3, 1933 – December 11, 2017) was an American Democratic politician in the state of Oregon. She was the first woman to serve as Speaker of the Oregon House of Representatives and was the 49th mayor of Portland, ...

's State of the City address in 2001, she said, "It’s like having the

Berlin Wall The Berlin Wall (german: Berliner Mauer, ) was a guarded concrete barrier that encircled West Berlin from 1961 to 1989, separating it from East Berlin and East Germany (GDR). Construction of the Berlin Wall was commenced by the gover ...

dividing east and west, with all the subtle charm of the

Daytona 500 The Daytona 500 is a NASCAR Cup Series motor race held annually at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida. It is the first of two Cup races held every year at Daytona, the second being the Coke Zero Sugar 400, and one of thre ...

smack dab in the middle of our city." The bridge crosses over and runs parallel to parts of the now named Vera Katz Eastbank Esplanade.

Future

Options to replace the bridge historically considered have been to reroute

I-5 Interstate 5 (I-5) is the main north–south Interstate Highway on the West Coast of the United States, running largely parallel to the Pacific coast of the contiguous U.S. from Mexico to Canada. It travels through the states of Californi ...

over the existing I-405 alignment, connecting

I-84 Interstate 84 may refer to: * Interstate 84 (Oregon–Utah), passing through Idaho, formerly known as Interstate 80N * Interstate 84 (Pennsylvania–Massachusetts) Interstate 84 (I-84) is an Interstate Highway in the Northeaster ...

to I-5 at the Fremont Bridge interchange, following the

US 30 U.S. Route 30 or U.S. Highway 30 (US 30) is an east–west main route in the system of the United States Numbered Highways, with the highway traveling across the northern tier of the country. With a length of , it is the third longest ...

alignment, and removing the Marquam permanently. Another option would build a tunnel under the Willamette River approximately following the existing I-5 alignment, and remove the Marquam Bridge permanently. Proposals have been made to replace the Eastbank Freeway portion of I-5 with a tunnel, connecting with the existing alignment at the Marquam Bridge and the Rose Quarter. This would free up space along the Willamette River for development.

References

External links

*
ODOT: Trans Dev – Transportation Data Traffic Counting Program
* * {{South Portland, Portland, Oregon 1966 establishments in Oregon Bridges completed in 1966 Bridges in Portland, Oregon Bridges on the Interstate Highway System Bridges over the Willamette River Interstate 5 Road bridges in Oregon Brooklyn, Portland, Oregon South Portland, Portland, Oregon Steel bridges in the United States Cantilever bridges in the United States

History

Design

Future

See also

References

External links