BNSF Willamette Bridge 5.1 - Portland, OR - Railroad Bridges on Waymarking.com

This bridge was originally built in 1908 and had the longest swing span in the world. Due to larger ships using the river the swing span was becoming a hazard to river navigation and the swing span was replaced in 1989 by a new new lift span. I recall reading an article on the conversion shortly after its completion. The most amazing thing about the changeover was that the bridge was only shut down for a very short time (my not so good memory seems to recall it was about 48 hours) while the swing span was removed and the lift span was floated into place and connected to the towers which had been built on either side of the swing span opening. Later the center pivot pier was demolished to far below the water line. This bridge is part of the BNSF mainline between Portland, Oregon & Seattle, Washington.

Bridge Type: Truss Bridge Usage: Railroad Moving Bridge: Vertical lift (lifts straight up)

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Date Logged Log User Rating   01/26/2019 yellow1961 visited it 05/17/2018 pnwfamily6 visited it 08/05/2014 BlueMoth visited it 12/30/2013 dkestrel visited it 12/22/2012 DocDTA visited it 11/13/2007 HeyRob4449 visited it

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