Broadway Bridge (Portland, Oregon)

Title: Broadway Bridge (Portland, Oregon)
LC Subject: Architecture, American Architecture--United States
Creator: Modjeski, Ralph Taylor, D. W.
Creator Display: Ralph Modjeski (engineer) D. W. Taylor (engineer)
Description: National Register of Historic Places (Listed, 2012)
View: exterior: Downstream view, Operator’s tower
Provenance: Design Library, University of Oregon Libraries
Temporal: 1910-1919
Work Type: architecture (object genre) built works views (visual works) exterior views bridges (built works)
Latitude: 45.530818
Longitude: -122.676249
Location: Portland >> Multnomah County >> Oregon >> United States Multnomah County >> Oregon >> United States Oregon >> United States United States
Street Address: 1100 Northwest Front Street
Date: 1911/1913
View Date: 2012
Identifier: pna_99999
Rights: In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted
Rights Holder: Oregon State Historic Preservation Office
Type: Image
Format: image/jpeg
Set: Building Oregon
Primary Set: Building Oregon
Institution: University of Oregon
Note: The Broadway Bridge, the first bascule or drawbridge to be constructed across the Willamette River in Portland, Oregon, was completed in April 1913. The bridge was designed by noted bridge engineer Ralph Modjeski with a Rall bascule designed by the Strobel Steel Construction Company of Chicago, Illinois. The Broadway Bridge is of statewide significance for its role within Portland’s transportation and development history as the first trans-Willamette River bridge to be constructed on an entirely new alignment in the 20th century. Its construction was a response to the increased cross-river traffic north of the traditional downtown, as Portland’s population and business center grew in the early part of the 20th century. The Broadway Bridge opened to traffic in April 1913, spans the Willamette River in downtown Portland, Oregon, at River Mile 11.7, just downstream from the Steel Bridge, within the core of the central commercial district of the city. Comprised of six steel through-trusses, the center span is a 278-foot-long, double-leaf Rall bascule and the overall length of the structure is 1,613 feet. The Broadway Bridge was designed by Ralph Modjeski, with the operable, Rall span designed under patent by the Strobel Steel Construction Company of Chicago, Illinois. The steel superstructure of the bridge was built by the Pennsylvania Steel Company. Union Bridge and Construction Company built the masonry substructure. The bridge is owned and maintained by Multnomah County. This image is provided by the Oregon State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO) and the UO Libraries to facilitate scholarship, research, and teaching. Please credit the Oregon State Historic Preservation Office when using this image. For other uses, such as commercial publication, please contact the Oregon State Historic Preservation Office.