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Hawthorne BridgeThe Hawthorne Bridge is a truss bridge with a vertical lift that spans the Willamette River in Portland, Oregon. It is the oldest vertical lift bridge in operation in the United States and the oldest highway bridge in Portland. It is also the busiest bicycle (around 1,500 cyclists daily) and transit (750 TriMet buses daily) bridge in Oregon. The bridge consists of five fixed spans and one 244 ft. long vertical lift span. It is 1,382 feet in total length. The 880,000 pound counterweights are suspended from the two 165 ft. tall towers. While the river is at low level the bridge is 49 feet above the water, causing it to be raised an average of 200 times per month. As of 2001 the average daily traffic is 30,500 vehicles. The bridge was designed by John Waddell, inventor of the vertical lift bridge and also designer of the Steel and Interstate bridges. The current bridge was built to replace Madison Bridge No. 1 (1891) and Madison Bridge No. 2 (1900), which was destroyed by a fire in 1902. It cost $500,000 to build and was opened on December 19, 1910. The deck was changed from wood to steel grating in 1945. In 1985 the lift span sheaves, the grooved wheels that guide the counterweight cables, were replaced. The bridge went through a $21 million restoration from 1998-99, which included replacing the steel grated deck and repainting. During this upgrade the sidewalks were widened to 10 feet, making it a thoroughfare for bicycle commuters. In 2001 the sidewalks were connected to the Eastbank Esplanade. Hawthorne Boulevard (and thus the bridge) was named after Dr. J.C. Hawthorne, the cofounder of Oregon's first mental hospital and early proponent for the first Morrison Bridge. Hawthorne Boulevard was originally called Asylum Street. Later the state mental hospital moved to its present location in Salem, and the street was renamed. External links Books Wood, Sharon. The Portland Bridge Book. Portland: Oregon Historical Society, 2001. ISBN 0-87595-211-9.
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