Ross Island Bridge

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**Ross Island Bridge**

Official name	Ross Island Bridge
Carries	US 26
Crosses	Willamette River
Locale	Portland, Oregon
Maintained by	ODOT
Design	Cantilever deck truss
Longest span	535 ft
Total length	3,700 ft
Opening date	1926
Maps and aerial photos Street map from Google Maps or Yahoo! Maps Topographic map from TopoZone Aerial image or topographic map from TerraServer-USA Satellite image from Google Maps or Microsoft Virtual Earth

The Ross Island Bridge is a cantilever truss bridge that spans the Willamette River in Portland, Oregon. It carries U.S. Route 26 (Mt. Hood Highway) across the river between southwest and southeast Portland. Although it looks like a deck arch bridge, it is the only cantilever deck truss bridge in Oregon.^[1]

The bridge was part of the unprecedented period of bridge building in Portland during the 1920s. It was opened on December 21, 1926 at a cost of $1.9 million. The bridge was designed by famed engineer Gustav Lindenthal.^[2]

There is a pedestrian walkway on the north side of the bridge, with no barrier between the sidewalk and the westbound right lane.

During the Great Depression, the bank of the Willamette near the Ross Island Bridge became the site of a Hooverville.^[3]

In 1976 ownership was transferred from Multnomah County to the Oregon Department of Transportation. In 2001 the deck was replaced, the railings were upgraded, and the drainage system was improved at a cost of $12.5 million.

The bridge underwent a $12.2 million renovation in 2000-2001. During this renovation, lead paint was discovered, causing delays and cost overruns.^[4]

1 Approaches
- 1.1 West approach
- 1.2 East approach
2 References
3 External links

[edit] Approaches

[edit] West approach

The west end of the bridge has a full interchange with Naito Parkway (Route 10, Pacific Highway West 1W), as well as access to and from Arthur Street, which carries US 26 towards Interstate 405. (Until around 2005, US 26 went north on Naito Parkway and through the south side of downtown Portland.) Access is also provided to and from the north end of Route 43 (Macadam Avenue - Oswego Highway 3), which runs next to Interstate 5 as frontage roads, and allows for access to and from I-5 via slip ramps and U-turns.

The pedestrian walkway comes off the north side parallel to the ramp to Kelly Avenue (leading to Arthur Street), running to the intersection of Kelly Avenue and Porter Street.

[edit] East approach

At the east end of the bridge, US 26 becomes Powell Boulevard as it passes over Route 99E (Pacific Highway East 1E). Route 99E is a high-speed arterial road, built to near-freeway standards; just to the north it passes over a railroad on the twin Martin Luther King, Jr. Viaduct and Grand Avenue Viaduct. There is a direct ramp from US 26 east to Route 99E south, but no northbound access. Likewise, there is access from Route 99E north to the bridge (via Woodward Street and 8th Avenue), but traffic from Route 99E south must exit at Mill Street, about 1/2 mile (1 km) to the north, and head down Division Street, 11th Avenue and Milwaukie Avenue to US 26. This same movement is done to reach US 26 east; US 26 west however has direct access to Route 99E north via 9th Avenue and Woodward Street. A fourth direct ramp runs from Route 99E north to US 26 east.

The pedestrian walkway simply becomes the north sidewalk of Powell Boulevard, a major street.

[edit] References

^ Willamette River (Ross Island) Bridge (Word). Oregon Department of Transportation. Retrieved on 2006-11-06.
^ Smith, Dwight A., Norman, James B.; Dykman, Pieter T. (1989). Historic Highway Bridges of Oregon. Oregon Historical Society Press, 78. ISBN 0-87595-205-4.
^ Wood, Sharon (2001). The Portland Bridge Book. Oregon Historical Society. ISBN 0-87595-211-9.
^ Hamilton, Don (April 13, 2001). Bridge face-lift requires more cash, more time. Portland Tribune. Retrieved on 2005-11-22.

[edit] External links

PortlandBridges.com - Ross Island Bridge
Library of Congress, photos of a Hooverville near the Ross Island Bridge

	Bridges in the metropolitan area of Portland, Oregon See also: Transportation in Portland
	Across the Willamette River (north to south) St. Johns Bridge - Burlington Northern Railroad Bridge 5.1 - Fremont Bridge - Broadway Bridge - Steel Bridge - Burnside Bridge - Morrison Bridge - Hawthorne Bridge - Marquam Bridge - Ross Island Bridge - Sellwood Bridge - Lake Oswego Railroad Bridge - Abernethy Bridge - Oregon City Bridge
	Across the Columbia River (west to east) Burlington Northern Railroad Bridge 9.6 - Interstate Bridge - Glenn L. Jackson Memorial Bridge