I-5 - Interstate Bridge (Northbound)
Facts
- Overview
- Vertical lift bridge over the Columbia River on northbound I-5 between Vancouver and Portland in Portland
- Location
- Portland, Multnomah County, Oregon, and Clark County, Washington
- Status
- Open to traffic
- History
- Built 1917, Main span modification 1958
- Builders
- - American Bridge Co. of New York (Steel Fabricator)
- Pacific Bridge Co. of Oakland, California (Contractor)
- Porter Brothers Co. of Spokane, Washington (Contractor)
- Waddell & Harrington (Design Engineer)
- Design
- Vertical lift Parker through truss
- Dimensions
-
Length of largest span: 531.0 ft.
Total length: 3,538.2 ft. (0.7 mi.)
Deck width: 38.1 ft.
Vertical clearance above deck: 15.5 ft.
- Recognition
- Eligible for the National Register of Historic Places
- Approximate latitude, longitude
- +45.61778, -122.67500 (decimal degrees)
45°37'04" N, 122°40'30" W (degrees°minutes'seconds") - Approximate UTM coordinates
- 10/525338/5051632 (zone/easting/northing)
- USGS topographic map
- Portland
- Inventory numbers
- OR 01377A (Oregon Dept. of Transportation structure number)
BH 30106 (Bridgehunter.com ID) - Inspection (as of 05/2013)
- Deck condition rating: Fair (5 out of 9)
Superstructure condition rating: Fair (5 out of 9)
Substructure condition rating: Fair (5 out of 9)
Appraisal: Functionally obsolete
Sufficiency rating: 18.5 (out of 100) - Average daily traffic (as of 2010)
- 64,286
Update Log
- May 30, 2013: New photos from M. D. Caillet
- April 1, 2011: New video from Kim Harvey
- September 8, 2010: New Street View added by Michael Goff
- January 21, 2009: New photos from Michael Goff
- January 7, 2009: New photo from Michael Goff
- July 17, 2008: New photos from Michael Goff
- July 8, 2008: Updated by Michael Goff
- August 18, 2006: Posted HAER photos
Related Bridges
- Bridge of the Gods (Upstream) - Modern Glenn Jackson Bridge (I-205) between these structures
- I-5 - Interstate Bridge (Southbound) (Downstream) - Side by side structures
Sources
- HAER WA-86 - Vancouver-Portland Interstate Bridge
- Wikipedia
- Mike Goff - michael [dot] goff [at] hotmail [dot] com
- Columbia River Crossing - Information on the future of the Interstate Bridge
- ODOT Tripcheck Camera - Live view from the top of the bridge
- ODOT Tripcheck Camera - Live traffic camera of the northbound lanes
- Historic Highway Bridges of Oregon - Dwight A. Smith, James B. Norman & Pieter T. Dykman, Oregon Historical Society Press, 1989
- Bridges of Portland - Ray Bottenberg, Arcadia Publishing, 2007
- The Portland Bridge Book - Sharon Wood Wortman, Oregon Historical Society Press, 2001
- Kim Harvey
- Final report: the Columbia River Interstate Bridge - 1917 Description and Construction History of Bridge With Photos
- Douglas Butler
Comments
Interstate Bridge drawing Northbound.
Webmaster's note: The photo that was here has been incorporated into the main site.
The Interstate Bridge is operated and maintained by the Oregon Department of Transportation with half the funds for operation coming from Washington State Department of Transportation. If fact, one my uncles use to work on the ODOT maintenance and operation crew on the Interstate Bridge.
There has been a major study for the replacement of this bridge going on for numerous years, but no determination as to bridge type or a timeline has been made to date. I do believe the preferred alternative for the bridge is a deck truss structure, but that could have changed since I last checked out the project. Anyone interested can check out the progress of these studies and meetings by clicking on the link for the “Columbia River Crossing” at the bottom of the bridgehunter page.
At this point in time, I personally do not see this bridge getting replaced in the next 5 years. The feds, the two states, along with all of the local interests might get a project put together for construction around 10+ years out, but that is still optimistic after seeing how communication between all the interested parties has gone thus far.
This landmark bridge appears to be slated for demolition and replacement. Guess its more a Washington state bridge rather than an Oregon bridge. Washington State has been tearing out historic bridges like they are some form of weed taking over a garden. Anyway, I found an interesting 1917 discussion of this bridge with photos: http://books.google.com/books?id=NdENAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false
This page's URL is http://bridgehunter.com/or/multnomah/interstate/