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Vista Avenue Viaduct

Multnomah County, Oregon
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Photos 

Vista Ave. Bridge

Photo taken by Michael Goff on June 13, 2008

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Map 

Street Views 

View Uglybridges.com report

Facts 

Overview
Concrete arch bridge over SW Jefferson on SW Vista Avenue in Portland
Location
Portland, Multnomah County, Oregon
Status
Open to traffic
History
Built in 1925 by Parker & Banfield
Builders
- Fred T. Fowler (Engineer/Architect)
- Parker & Banfield of Portland, Oregon (Contractor)
Design
Concrete deck arch
Dimensions
Length of largest span: 248.0 ft.
Total length: 548.9 ft.
Deck width: 37.4 ft.
Recognition
Posted to the National Register of Historic Places on April 26, 1984
Also called
Suicide Bridge
Approximate latitude, longitude
+45.51889, -122.69750   (decimal degrees)
45°31'08" N, 122°41'51" W   (degrees°minutes'seconds")
Approximate UTM coordinates
10/523625/5040639 (zone/easting/northing)
Quadrangle map:
Portland
Inventory numbers
NRHP 84003093 (National Register of Historic Places reference number)
BH 29893 (Bridgehunter.com ID)
Inspection (as of 09/2014)
Deck condition rating: Poor (4 out of 9)
Superstructure condition rating: Satisfactory (6 out of 9)
Substructure condition rating: Fair (5 out of 9)
Appraisal: Structurally deficient
Sufficiency rating: 49.7 (out of 100)
Average daily traffic (as of 2010)
8,993

Categories 

Arch (11,114)
Built 1925 (1,122)
Built during 1920s (8,672)
Deck arch (10,358)
Fred T. Fowler (2)
Have street view (21,620)
Multnomah County, Oregon (97)
NR-listed (2,839)
Open (36,076)
 Open-spandrel arch (681)
Oregon (864)
Owned by city (4,434)
Parker & Banfield (5)
Portland, Oregon (58)
Span length 175-250 feet (1,791)
Structurally deficient (18,300)
Total length 500-1000 feet (2,487)

Update Log 

  • November 18, 2016: New photos from Mike Garland
  • November 16, 2016: New photos from Mike Garland
  • March 12, 2014: Updated by Dave King: Added NRHP info, NRHP link & imported photos
  • June 18, 2013: New photos from Mike Goff
  • September 7, 2010: New Street View added by Michael Goff
  • October 8, 2009: New photos from Michael Goff
  • August 26, 2008: New photos from Michael Goff
  • June 25, 2008: New photo from Michael Goff
  • April 25, 2008: Updated by Max Johnson: Corrected "Date Built"

Sources 

  • James Baughn - webmaster [at] bridgehunter [dot] com
  • Mike Goff - michael [dot] goff [at] hotmail [dot] com
  • Historic Highway Bridges of Oregon - Dwight A. Smith, James B. Norman & Pieter T. Dykman, Oregon Historical Society Press, 1989
  • Wikipedia - Vista Avenue Bridge
  • NRHP Form
  • Dave King - DKinghawkfan [at] hotmail [dot] com
  • Mike Garland - Rapier342 [at] comcast [dot] net
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Comments 

Vista Avenue Viaduct
Posted August 26, 2008, by Michael Goff (michael [dot] goff [at] odot [dot] state [dot] or [dot] us)

The date for this bridge seems to have been a discussion in the past. I have done a little research on this structure and this is my conclusion on the topic.

The information plaque on the bridge states the bridge was built in 1925. This is the year the bridge was constructed, but the bridge did not open until early 1926.

The current bridge replaced an older structure that was built in 1903-04. This older bridge is probably the source of confusion for the date of the current bridge.

Vista Avenue Bridge
Posted April 18, 2008, by Arthur H. Greisser,Jr. (a [dot] greisserjr [at] att [dot] net)

Vista Avenue bridge

LOCATION IS IN MULTNOMAH COUNTY

ORIGINAL NAME: Ford Street Bridge

OPENING DATE: 1904

NOTE: Original bridge parts were used to cross the canyon where present day Interstate highway I-5 is located. (AKA Terwilliger Curves )---This is a notorious location for traffic wrecks due to the curve configurations.

AKA "Suicide Bridge" for obvious reasons--

Several streetcar car wrecks occured on the bridge involving runaway Council Crest streetcars-