The Oregon City Bridge, also known as the Arch Bridge, is a steel

through arch bridge A through arch bridge, also known as a through-type arch bridge, is a bridge that is made from materials such as steel or reinforced concrete, in which the base of an arch structure is below the deck but the top rises above it. It can either be lo ...

spanning 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 and West Linn,

Oregon Oregon () is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of its eastern boundary with Idaho. T ...

, United States. Completed in 1922, it is listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

. It was built and is owned 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 Depar ...

(ODOT) as part of

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 ...

and is the thirdsouthernmost Willamette bridge 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, ...

, after the Boone Bridge in Wilsonville and the Oregon 219 bridge near Newberg. The bridge is 745 ft (227 m) in length and 28 ft (8½ m) wide with a 360 ft (110 m) long main span that provides 49 ft (15 m) of vertical clearance at low river levels. The narrow width causes problems for large vehicles that cross it, often requiring traffic going in the other direction to stop.

TriMet TriMet, formally known as the Tri-County Metropolitan Transportation District of Oregon, is a public agency that operates mass transit in a region that spans most of the Portland metropolitan area in the U.S. state of Oregon. Created in 1969 ...

buses ceased using the bridge in 2009. This bridge is the only Oregon bridge to be encased in gunite, which protects it from corrosive sulfur dioxide emissions from paper mills south of the bridge. The concrete look was favored by bridge designer Conde McCullough, designer of 500 Oregon bridges. His signature detailing is evident in the obelisk pylons with sconced light fixtures, ornate railings, and

Art Deco Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unite ...

piers. The Oregon City Bridge is just downstream from the tall

Willamette Falls The Willamette Falls is a natural waterfall on the Willamette River between Oregon City, Oregon, Oregon City and West Linn, Oregon, in the United States. It is the largest waterfall in the Northwestern United States by volume, and the seventeen ...

and the Willamette Falls Locks, the oldest navigational locks in the United States. Downstream from this bridge is the George Abernethy Bridge, which carries

Interstate 205 Interstate 205 may refer to either of two unconnected Interstate Highways in the United States, both of which are related to Interstate 5 * Interstate 205 (California), a connector in the San Francisco Bay Area * Interstate 205 (Oregon–Washing ...

History

The bridge was built to replace a pedestrian cablesuspension bridge completed in 1888. This existing bridge was utilized continuously during the construction process of the replacement, not only as access to the site for men and materialsassembling the box steel frames and pouring the reinforced concrete from its walkwaybut also as the main support system during the completion of the arch itself. Construction was made difficult by the engineering challenges posed by the great depth of the river at the site and worse from the need to manage and accommodate the frequent and ever increasing water traffic on its surface. The completed bridge was opened to the public on December 28, 1922, with the cost of construction reported as $300,000. The piers were designed to accommodate

public restroom A public toilet, restroom, public bathroom or washroom is a room or small building with toilets (or urinals) and sinks for use by the general public. The facilities are available to customers, travelers, employees of a business, school pupils ...

s. The deck widens at the piers to provide room for the stairways – one on each side of the deck – that once descended to the restrooms. Repeated vandalism led to the closure of the restrooms in 1937, and the stairway entrances were covered over with concrete. Windows for "observation balconies" that were originally included in the piers, at the tops on both sides, were also sealed in concrete after closure. The bridge was added to the

(as the Willamette River (Oregon City) Bridge (No. 357)) on July 1, 2005. In March 2009, ODOT imposed new weight limits for vehicles crossing the bridge, after inspections revealed damage to some of the structure's floor beams. Large commercial vehicles, or any vehicle weighing more than 14 tons, were banned from using the bridge. Among other impacts, the restriction meant the rerouting of all

buses. The two routes using the bridge at that time, 35-Macadam and 154-Willamette, were rerouted across the

Abernethy Bridge The George Abernethy Bridge, or simply Abernethy Bridge, is a steel plate and box girder bridge that spans the Willamette River between Oregon City and West Linn, Oregon, United States, and which carries Interstate 205. It is also known as the O ...

(I-205 bridge). In 2010–2012, the Oregon City Bridge was given an extensive rehabilitation, overseen by ODOT. Work began in July 2010, and the bridge was temporarily closed to all traffic starting in January 2011. The bridge reopened on October 15, 2012, with the $15 million restoration project nearly completed. The final items of work were completed in early 2013. According to ODOT, one of the "intentions" of the project was to "restore he bridge'soriginal load-carrying capacity", which would permit TriMet buses to resume using the bridge. However, as of September 2013 TriMet service had not returned to the bridge, and it is unknown whether the transit agency is planning to restore the former routings, or whether ODOT actually has restored the old (higher) load limits.

Current use

As of 2000, the bridge carried 12,800 vehicles per day, which represents only a 40% growth in traffic since 1953, when a public debate was held about building a parallel bridge next to the existing bridge. While the Oregon City Bridge did not get twinned, the George Abernethy Bridge (I-205 Bridge) opened in 1970 and has since become the major route through the area. TriMet buses crossed the bridge until March 2009, when a new weight limit temporarily banned buses and heavy commercial vehicles from using the bridge.

Gallery

File:Oregon City Arch Bridge, 1922 (32864398296).jpg, The bridge in 1922 File:Oregon City Arch Bridge (32524685390).jpg, Colorized slide, 1920s Image:Oregon City bridge from cliff P1335.jpeg, Oregon City bridge as seen from McLoughlin Promenade File:Oregon City Bridge surface view from sidewalk towards OC.jpg, Surface view looking toward Oregon City File:Oregon City Br - viewpoint and former restroom entrance.jpg, Former restroom stairway entrance, flanked by art-deco lighting fixtures File:OregonCityBridge.jpg, View from northeast, with

in background Image:Oregon City Bridge interior view of elevator P1360.jpeg, Interior of bridge with bottom of Oregon City Municipal Elevator visible Image:Oregon City Bridge.jpg, Looking up at Oregon City Bridge from Frontier Street in West Linn, in 2007, before lights were reinstalled on the obelisks File:Oregon City Arch Bridge by Gary Weber (8273187502).jpg, Fireworks in celebration of the bridge's reopening in 2012 after a two-year rehabilitation

References

External links

Oregon City Bridge
(with a link to
Microsoft Word document about the bridge
, from the website of the state of Oregon
Photo of 1888 suspension bridge
from a bridge fan's website * {{National Register of Historic Places Oregon Through arch bridges in the United States Bridges completed in 1922 Buildings and structures in Oregon City, Oregon West Linn, Oregon Road bridges on the National Register of Historic Places in Oregon National Register of Historic Places in Clackamas County, Oregon U.S. Route 99 Bridges in Clackamas County, Oregon Bridges over the Willamette River Historic American Engineering Record in Oregon Bridges by Conde McCullough 1922 establishments in Oregon Steel bridges in the United States Box girder bridges in the United States

History

Current use

Gallery

See also

References

External links