Portland Broadway Bridge from Fremont Bridge, Panorama

PhotoID: 5D0IMG07915

Broadway Bridge: Finished in 1913, this drawbridge marks the transition of Broadway Street from North-South (west side) to East-West (east side). The Broadway bridge is a unique double-leaf bascule span construction, 1,736 feet long, and was designed by Ralph Modjeski [1]. Modjeski was another world-famous bridge designer noted for, among other things, the Ben Franklin Bridge over the Delaware River between Philadelphia, PA and Camden, NJ. Modjeski also worked on other Oregon bridge projects between 1905-1915 [2].

References:

[1] Smith, Dwight. Historic Highway Bridges of Oregon. Second Edition. Portland, Oregon: Oregon Historical Society, 1989. P. 116.

[2] Petroski, Henry. Engineers of Dreams: Great Bridge Builders and the Spanning of America. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1995. P. 173.