Interstate Bridge
| Interstate Bridge | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Carries | 6 lanes of  I‑5
|
| Crosses | Columbia River |
| Locale |
Portland, Oregon to Vancouver, Washington |
| Maintained by | ODOT, WSDOT |
| ID number | 01377, 07333 |
| Characteristics | |
| Design | Dual truss with vertical lifts |
| Total length | 3,538 ft (1,078 m) |
| Width | Northbound span 38 ft (12 m); southbound span 39 ft (12 m) |
| Height | Approx. 230 ft (70 m) |
| Longest span | 531 ft (161.8 m) |
| Clearance below | 72 ft (21.9 m) at highest fixed span; 176 ft (53.6 m) at open lift span |
| History | |
| Opened |
February 14, 1917(Northbound), |
|
Portland–Vancouver Highway Bridge
|
|
 |
|
| Location |
Portland, Oregon; Vancouver, Washington |
| Coordinates | 45°36′24″N 122°40′51″W / 45.60667°N 122.68083°WCoordinates: 45°36′24″N 122°40′51″W / 45.60667°N 122.68083°W |
| Built | 1915–16 |
| Architect | Harrington, Howard & Ash |
| MPS | Historic Bridges/Tunnels in Washington State TR |
| NRHP Reference # | 82004205 |
| Added to NRHP | July 16, 1982 |
| Statistics | |
| Daily traffic | 132,592 (2014) |
February 14, 1917(Northbound),
1958 (Southbound)
The Interstate Bridge (also Columbia River Interstate Bridge, I-5 Bridge, Portland-Vancouver Interstate Bridge, Vancouver-Portland Bridge) is a pair of nearly identical steel vertical-lift, "Parker type" through-truss bridges that carry Interstate 5 traffic over the Columbia River between Vancouver, Washington and Portland, Oregon in the United States.
The bridge opened to traffic in 1917 as a single bridge carrying two-way traffic. A second, twin bridge opened in 1958 with each bridge carrying one-way traffic. The original 1917 structure is the northbound bridge. As of 2006, the bridge pair handles around 130,000 vehicles daily. The green structure, which is over 3,500 feet (1,067 m) long, carries traffic over three northbound lanes and three southbound lanes. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1982, as the "Portland–Vancouver Highway Bridge".
Since 2005, proposals for replacing the bridge have been produced and debated. The bridge is considered responsible for traffic congestion of road vehicles and river traffic. Plans for a replacement bridge, known as the Columbia River Crossing (CRC) project, estimated to cost at least $3.4 billion, had come together by 2012 after many delays, but were very controversial, with both strong support and strong opposition. In late June 2013, the CRC project was canceled, after the Washington state legislature declined to authorize funding for the project.
The Interstate Bridge's name is a simple descriptive one based on its location, as a bridge connecting two states. In 1917, the new bridge gave its name to a Portland arterial street. Shortly before the bridge opened, a pair of streets through North Portland that were planned to be treated as the main route to and from the bridge, Maryland Avenue and Patton Avenue, were renamed Interstate Avenue.
The bridge was built to replace an overcrowded ferry system operated by Pacific Railway, Light & Power Co. Construction on the bridge began in March 1915, following the sale of bonds. The first bridge was opened on February 14, 1917 at a cost of $1.75 million (equivalent to $33 million in 2016), which was shared between Clark County and Multnomah County. Clark County paid $500,000 and Multnomah County $1,250,000—probably proportional to population.
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Wikipedia