Sauvie Island Bridge

The Sauvie Island Bridge crosses the Multnomah Channel of the Willamette River near Portland, Oregon, United States. The original Parker truss bridge, built in 1950 with a 200ft main span, was replaced with a tied arch bridge with a 360ft span in 2008 due to cracks discovered in 2001.Old bridgeOpened on December 30, 1950, the first bridge to Sauvie Island replaced the Sauvie Island Ferry. The $900,000 bridge was designed by the Oregon Department of Transportation and built by Gilpin Construction. Oregon transferred ownership to Multnomah County in 1951. Composed of three steel truss spans, it was a total of 1198ft long, with the main span measuring 200ft in length. The approach spans were built of reinforced concrete girders. Green in color, the bridge was 41ft wide and carried two lanes of traffic and had sidewalks on both sides. The main span, a Parker truss, sat 80ft above the water line and handled an average of 3,800 vehicles per day.New bridgeAfter cracks were found in the 1950 span in 2001, Multnomah County restricted weight and speed on the bridge. Early designs for a new bridge were submitted in July 2004, and groundbreaking was held on January 4, 2006. The new $38 million span was designed by H2L2 Architecture with David Evans & Associates as the design engineers, and built by Max J. Kuney Company. Located at river mile three, the main span is 360ft long and rests 80ft above the water. The main span is of a tied arch design constructed of steel, while the approach spans are a box-girder style using pre-stressed concrete. The bridge has two lanes of traffic with shoulders and sidewalks on both sides for a total width of 66 feet. The bridge was floated into place after it was constructed.