Yesterday went for a ride to visit the East end of the Sellwood Bridge in Portland. It was a beautiful sunny day but close to freezing temps. The Sellwood is a bridge connecting East Portland with Westside but is 5 or 6 miles south of the next bridge heading further north. Consequently it handles a major portion of the traffic that has to cross the river from Southeast to westside or vice-versa. It is a terribly inadequate bridge being one lane and also extremely dilapidated. On a federal scale of bridges ranked from 0 to 100 for safety, it is rated as a 1.
Consequently a project underway to replace it. A new bridge will be built on the existing pylons so a temporary set has been built and the bridge will be slid over 60 feet to serve as a temporary bridge until the new one is built. The bridge will therefore be closed for a week during the transition. Listening to some people describe what the Portland commute was like yesterday as the result of so much traffic seeking alternate ways to cross the river sounded like pure commuter hell. The freeways in all directions became parking lots for miles and miles in every direction. Will it make people take the bus instead? Probably not.
Enroute to see the Sellwood bridge also had a look at the new light rail and bicycle commuter bridge being built at the South End of downtown Portland.
THE ONE BELOW IS THE SELLWOOD, ABOUT TO BE MOVED 60 FEET NORTH
