Fremont Bridge - Portland, Oregon
Posted by: 
howarthe
N 45° 32.262 W 122° 40.950
10T E 524788 N 5042733
The Fremont Bridge is a steel tied arch bridge over the Willamette River located in Portland, Oregon. It carries Interstate 405 and US 30 traffic between downtown and North Portland where it intersects with I-5.
Waymark Code: WM791J
Location: Oregon, United States
Date Posted: 09/21/2009
Views: 19
The Fremont Bridge has the longest main span of any bridge in Oregon and is the second longest tied arch bridge in the world (after Caiyuanba Bridge across the Yangtze River, China). The bridge was named for
John Charles Frémont. One of the connecting streets was previously named Fremont Street in honor of the same individual.
The bridge has two decks carrying vehicular traffic, each with four lanes. The upper deck carries westbound and southbound traffic. The lower deck carries eastbound and northbound traffic. Because this is an interstate, there is no pedestrian or bicycle traffic allowed.
The Portland Art Commission was invited to participate in the design process of the Fremont Bridge. The improvement in visual quality resulted in a bridge that was nearly six times as expensive as the comparable Marquam Bridge. Designers modeled the bridge after the Port Mann Bridge in Vancouver, British Columbia.
The main span of the bridge was built in California then assembled at Swan Island, 1.7 miles (2.7 km) downstream. After completion it was floated into place on a barge.
On March 16, 1973 the 6,000 ton steel arch span was lifted 170 ft (52 m) using 32 hydraulic jacks. At the time, it was listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as the heaviest lift ever completed. The bridge was open on November 11, 1973 at a final cost of $82 million, most of which was financed by the Federal Highway Administration.
In 1976, an American flag and an Oregon flag were added atop the structure as part of the bicentennial celebration for the United States. The 15 feet (4.6 m) by 25 feet (7.6 m) flags are attached to 50-foot (15 m) tall flagpoles at the crest of the arches.
Other Portland Bridges: Portland, Oregon is a city on the banks of the Columbia River, bisected by the Willamette River. It has lots of bridges. For waymarkers attempting to "collect" all of Portland's bridges, this list may be of help.
Across the Willamette River
- St. Johns Bridge (suspension bridge)
- Burlington Northern Railroad Bridge 5.1 (vertical lift, railroad bridge)
- Fremont Bridge (arch bridge)
- Broadway Bridge (moving bridge)
- Steel Bridge (vertical lift bridge
- Burnside Bridge (moving bridge)
- Morrison Bridge (moving bridge)
- Hawthorne Bridge (vertical lift bridge)
- Marquam Bridge (moving bridge)
- Ross Island Bridge (moving, truss bridge)
- Sellwood Bridge (truss bridge)
- Lake Oswego Railroad Bridge (truss, railroad bridge)
- Abernethy Bridge (box girder bridge)
- Oregon City Bridge (arch bridge)
- Boone Bridge (steel girder bridge)
Across the Columbia River
- Burlington Northern Railroad Bridge 9.6 (moving, railroad bridge)
- Interstate Bridge (border crossing)
- Glenn L. Jackson Memorial Bridge (segmental bridge)
Miscellaneous
- Blue Bridge (Reed College campus, pedestrian bridge)
- Vista Bridge (arch bridge)
- Gibbs Street Pedestrian Bridge (proposed, across I-5)
- Caruthers Bridge (proposed, across Willamette River)
- Main Street Bridge (arch bridge)
- Sauvie Island Bridge (arch bridge)