Queen Of The West, Burnside Bridge raised

PhotoID: D300CRW00689

Steel Bridge: This is the bridge the Amtrak trains cross when leaving Portland to the south or east. Portland's MAX light rail train crosses on the top deck, also. Cars use it, too!

Finished in 1912, the Steel Bridge is considered unique because it is one of the only known dual-lift bridges in the world. That is, the lower deck (Amtrak and freight trains) can be lifted independently of the upper deck (MAX, automobiles) to allow some clearance.

The current Steel bridge replaced an earlier on at approximately the same spot that was built in 1888. [1]

[1] Smith, Dwight. Historic Highway Bridges of Oregon. Second Edition. Portland, Oregon: Oregon Historical Society, 1989. P. 208.

Burnside Bridge: Finished in 1926, the Burnside Bridge, another drawbridge, marks the absolute center of Portland, because Burnside Street divides the city into its north-south sectors and the Willamette River divides it into its east-west sectors.

The bridge was one of several built in the 1920's by Multnomah County (also the Sellwood and Ross Island Bridges) that was linked to a scandal after which Gustav Lindenthal, a prestigious bridge designer, was brought in to sure things up. [1] The bridge replaced an earlier bridge built in 1894; the bridge is 2,308 feet long and is a double-leaf bascule drawspan type. [2]

[1] Petroski, Henry. Engineers of Dreams: Great Bridge Builders and the Spanning of America. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1995. P. 193..

[2] Smith, Dwight. Historic Highway Bridges of Oregon. Second Edition. Portland, Oregon: Oregon Historical Society, 1989. P. 118.