Falling Concrete and Rising Arches

There were two big stories swirling around the Sellwood Bridge this month.  The first was an issue that seemed to be big but turned out to be nothing much at all, and the second was a major milestone toward the bridge’s completion.

Chunks of concrete falling from the Sellwood Bridge is nothing new, in fact it was one of the obvious drivers of the replacement project.  But that was then.  Now that the project is underway, most people expect the new concrete to stay where it’s put but passersby noticed that wasn’t the case.  Big chunks were falling from the newly poured concrete on one of the new supports.  At first blush that would seem to be a problem, but it turns out that molded concrete frequently leaves bubbles or voids that have to be cleaned up before it can be called finished.  There’s more detail in the KOIN story at right, but the important thing is that the worry was misplaced.

The second big thing was the connection of the gigantic steel arches that span the river. In the video at right, Multnomah County Spokesman Mike Pullen describes why this milestone is so important and what we can expect next.  There’s not much for us to add to Mike, but there is a lot more to see and Randy Rasmussen at the Oregoinan captured it all.  Here are two of his pictures, but his full gallery of pictures is well worth a look.

 As always, Multnomah County maintains the definitive website on everything related to the Sellwood Bridge Replacement project, www.sellwoodbridge.org.  Construction and closure alerts, archived information, and other resources are all available 24/7 for your convenience.  If you’re looking for something that’s not on the website, you can contact Mike Pullen (mike.j.pullen@multco.us, 503-209-4111) or visit www.sellwoodbridge.org.