Multnomah County offered a behind-the-scenes tour of the Sellwood Bridge this weekend, just before the big Grand Opening. Our Sellwood Bridge Update reporter was privileged to be invited, and here are some photos of his trip into the wild. (Click any thumbnail below for a larger image.)
If you haven’t yet heard, the brand new Sellwood Bridge will open to the public on Feb 27 with an on-bridge event from 1p-4p. Click here to see our report on the Grand Opening, or click here to see all the coverage from our Sellwood Bridge Update since we started the column in 2010. If you haven’t become a fan of our Sellwood Bridge Update column yet you’d better act now… the project, and our column, will both come to an end in November!
View under the middle arch from the west work bridge.
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- The Bridge Tour party sets off into the unknown
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- The traffic diversion onto the old bridge will need to be cleaned up before the big opening
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- Finger joints allow up to 12″ of dimensional change, and they’re much quieter than older design expansion joints.
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- A look down at the temporary supports holding up the old bridge
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- You may not realize just how close the old and new bridges are to each other
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- A look at the new, wider, currently unstriped road bed
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- Approaching the construction site from the north
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- Inside the construction site, coming up to the work bridge
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- Looking straight east from below the bridge on the west side
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- Moving onto the work bridge.
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- See that ladder? The arches are hollow for human access. Here’s your hiding place come the zombie apocalypse
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- Arch bases from the work bridge. Once the work bridge is gone, this view won’t be available anymore. You won’t be able to see it from the water or the bridge… you’ll only see it here.
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- View under the middle arch from the west work bridge.
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- Final view looking west at the western arch.
