Burnside Bridge, Raised

PhotoID: D300CRW00835

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.