Tom McCall Waterfront Park, Hawthorne Bridge

PhotoID: 1DS0B5ES09665

Hawthorne Bridge: Finished in 1910, this is Portland's oldest surviving highway bridge, a lift bridge, and is one of the the oldest surviving lift bridges in the world. The bridge replaced an earlier bridge - the Madison Street Bridge - that lasted from 1891 until it burned in 1902.[1]

An extended eastern approach was added in 1957, presumably to bypass the railroad traffic of the industrial district on the east side. Hawthorne Boulevard ends at the bridge and runs only on the east side of the city. Madison Street and Main Street on the west side merge into the bridge entrance.

The Hawthorne is a lift bridge with a low clearance. The bridge seems to go up all the time for any sort of river traffic.

The bridge was renovated in 1998-99; renovation included repainting (was yellow, now green with orange trim on the pedestrian railings). The decks were widened considerably for pedestrians and bikers. Now you can walk across the bridge without too much fear of being run over! Alert signs were also added notifying drivers that the bridge is raised - believe me, this is very helpful! If you are in a hurry, there's nothing more frustrating than waiting 5-10 minutes for the bridge to reopen, especially when you can detour to the Morrison fairly quickly.

Tom McCall Waterfront Park: This park was, until the 1970's, a four-lane highway. When I-5 and I-405 were built as a loop around downtown Portland, highway 99W became unnecessary, so the highway was turned into the present waterfront park, which has become the site of numerous summer festivals as well as year-round recreation. There was also an effort to clean up the Willamette River in the 1970's to coincide with this re-bonding of downtown Portland with the river, but the river's cleaner profile didn't last long and has since become hopelessly polluted again. The park has still become an essential part of the city.