Burlington Northern Railroad Bridge 9.6
| Burlington Northern Railroad Bridge 9.6 | |
|---|---|
A train crossing the bridge's
467-foot (142 m) swing-span section |
|
| Coordinates | 45°37′29″N 122°41′27″W / 45.6247°N 122.6908°WCoordinates: 45°37′29″N 122°41′27″W / 45.6247°N 122.6908°W |
| Carries | 2 railroad tracks, used by freight and passenger trains |
| Crosses | Columbia River |
| Locale |
Portland, Oregon; Vancouver, Washington |
| Other name(s) | BNSF Railway Bridge 9.6, Columbia River Railroad Bridge (at Portland) |
| Owner | BNSF Railway |
| Characteristics | |
| Design | Swing bridge, Pratt truss |
| Total length | 2,807 feet (856 m) |
| Longest span | 467 feet (142 m) |
| Piers in water | 9 |
| Clearance below | 33 feet (10 m) |
| History | |
| Construction begin | February 8, 1906 |
| Construction end | July 24, 1908 |
| Opened | November 17, 1908 |
| Statistics | |
| Daily traffic | 63 freight, 10 Amtrak per day |
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Burlington Northern Railroad Bridge 9.6 or BNSF Railway Bridge 9.6, also known as the Columbia River Railroad Bridge, is through truss railway bridge across the Columbia River, between Portland, Oregon, and Vancouver, Washington, owned and operated by BNSF Railway. Built by the Spokane, Portland and Seattle Railway (SP&S) and completed in 1908, it was the first bridge of any kind to be built across the lower Columbia River, preceding the first road bridge, the nearby Interstate Bridge, by a little more than eight years.
The 2,807-foot (856 m) long bridge has a swing span, which pivots on its base to allow for the passage of taller ships. The bridge carries two railroad tracks, which are used by BNSF, Union Pacific Railroad, and Amtrak. It is one of only two surviving swing-span bridges in the Portland metropolitan area, which once had several bridges of that type. The other survivor is another BNSF bridge located nearby, on the same line and built at the same time, the Oregon Slough Railroad Bridge (also known as BNSF Railway Bridge 8.8). The 9.6 in the name is the distance, in miles, from Portland's Union Station, the same as for Bridge 5.1 (across the Willamette River) and Bridge 8.8 on the same line.
Construction of a single-track railroad bridge at the same location was started in 1890, engineered by George S. Morison for the Portland & Puget Sound Railroad Company (affiliated with Union Pacific), but that project was abandoned at an early stage. In 1905, another crossing of the Columbia River was proposed, this time by the Northern Pacific Railway (NP), for use by the newly formed Portland & Seattle Railway. The Portland & Seattle had been formed jointly by NP and Great Northern Railway, to build and ultimately operate new railroad lines from Portland to Seattle and Portland to Spokane, but was renamed Spokane, Portland & Seattle Railway (SP&S) – in early 1908, before opening any track sections – after construction of the Portland–Spokane line got under way before the Seattle line. The planned new railroad was commonly referred to as the "North Bank road" (road being short for railroad or railroad line), or North Bank line, because the Seattle line would follow the Columbia River's north bank as far as Kelso and the Spokane line would also follow the north bank, running east from Vancouver. East from Portland, the south bank of the Columbia already had a rail line, owned by the Oregon Railroad and Navigation Company (later absorbed by Union Pacific Railroad).
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