Steel Bridge and Cherry Blossoms

PhotoID: D300CRW05159

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.

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.