Despite the army of cranes surrounding the Sellwood Bridge, work on it is about to slow as a ban on in-water work takes effect in October. (Any work that disturbs the river bottom has to be put on hold to avoid harming the salmon migration). The Shoo-fly move, when the existing bridge is moved over to become the temporary bridge during construction, has been moved until early next year. We’ll keep you posted as that date gets closer… it should be quite a show! In the meantime, here is the latest Field Work notice and some pictures of the construction area.
River Work
Work Bridge – Pile driving for two work bridges is expected to continue seven days a week through October 15. The contractor is working to place 60 piles for each bridge during this in-water work period. On October 8 the contractor will drive several pile for the eastside column of the detour bridge near the riverbank in front of Riverplace. The photo to the right shows river piers for the new detour structure and the beams that will be used to shift the old river spans to the detour bridge.
West Side Work
Traffic Impact – The contractor plans to flag traffic at the west end of the bridge on Saturday night, October 6 during boring for the foundations for the west approach of the detour bridge. This work will impact traffic between 7 pm Saturday and 6 am on Sunday. Work continues on other westside approach spans.
Landslide Work – Landslide stabilization work continues north and south of the bridge. Next week the contractor will construct, drill and install additional shear piles and install a set of ground anchors.
East Side Work
Traffic Impact – On October 9 and 10 flaggers will stop bridge traffic for several minutes while a crane places several 90-foot long steel beams that will form the deck for the east approach to the detour bridge. The contractor is building the east approach from the river to the east (see photo at right).
The contractor is completing the new end wall of the southern unoccupied townhouse at Riverpark condominiums. On the south side of the bridge, the new gated south entrance to Sellwood Harbor condominiums is expected to be completed by October 16. Then work will shift to the north side of the complex and the north entrance will be closed.
Construction Work Hours: Work hours through October 15 are 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Sunday. Work hours for eastside condominiums are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays.
For Project Information: For project information, contact Mike Pullen (mike.j.pullen@multco.us, 503-209-4111) or visit www.sellwoodbridge.org. View live construction from our two web cams at www.sellwoodbridge.org/?p=construction-camera.
Don’t forget …
Multnomah County is set to keep you updated on the bridge construction 24/7. Their website at SellwoodBridge.org has full project information, archives, and other resources. Probably the most interesting thing on the site is the cameras set up to cover the new bridge construction. The link at left takes you to the live camera, and there’s also a time-lapse video that will condense the each day’s construction progress into just a few minutes
Supports for the temporary bridge are taking shape
View from the bridge to construction platforms below
The new construction management trailer complex in the lot across from our shop. See us way in the back?
New pilings being driven
