Willamette River Crossings: Sellwood Bridge in Portland, Oregon

July 2017 (45.46441, -122.66461) Sellwood Bridge

The last bridge I photographed over the Willamette River was the Sellwood Bridge, which opened in 2017. It's a 1,976 ft long bridge with three steel arch spans over the river. It was designed by T. Y. Lin International, who also designed last week's Tilikum Crossing.

The new bridge replaced a deck truss structure that was designed by Gustav Lindenthal in 1925. The contractor (Slayden/Sundt Joint Venture) moved the old superstructure from its concrete piers onto temporary steel towers so people could use it while the new bridge was being built (see photo below courtesy of KATU).

An interesting detail on the new bridge is the concrete arch springings that project out of the caissons and connect to the steel arch ribs (see photo below). The deck is supported by the spandrel columns on the arches and by big steel piers directly over the caissons.

The concrete springings are repeated at the ends of the river spans where they are buried deep into the ground to resist service loads and the occasion earthquake (see photo below).

The new bridge has a 63' to 93' wide deck with two vehicle lanes, two 6.5 ft wide shoulder/bike lanes, and two 12 foot wide sidewalks. There is also a middle lane to allow for future light rail tracks (see photo below). The bridge  owner is Multnomah County.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Niigata, Japan's Bridges: Agewa Ohashi Bridge (上輪大橋) on Route 8 (3)

August 2007 (37.325 Degrees, 138.454 Degrees) Agewa Ohashi

One last photo of the Agewa Bridge. The dense vegetation reflects the heavy rainfall and temperate climate along the west coast of Japan.

The spandrel bridge columns have slender diagonal members at the top sloping towards the center of the arch ribs to keep the whole thing stable. They did a remarkable job of preventing bridge damage during the 2007 earthquake.

Niigata, Japan's Bridges: Agewa Ohashi Bridge (上輪大橋) on Route 8 (3) by Mark Yashinsky is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.

Niigata, Japan's Bridges: Agewa Ohashi Bridge (上輪大橋) on Route 8 (2)

August 2007 (37.325 Degrees, 138.454 Degrees) Agewa Ohashi

A photo of the Agewa Bridge in front of the Sea of Japan. The bridge has long steel girder approaches because the arch is supported on sloping terrain.

Niigata, Japan's Bridges: Agewa Ohashi Bridge (上輪大橋) on Route 8 (2) by Mark Yashinsky is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.

Niigata, Japan's Bridges: Agewa Ohashi Bridge (上輪大橋) on Route 8 (1)

August 2007 (37.325 Degrees, 138.454 Degrees) Agewa Ohashi

Just east of the Yonahime Bridge is a long bridge over the Agewa River. The Agewa Bridge is a steel deck arch firmly anchored into the hillside, which (unlike the Yonahime Bridge) suffered no damage during the 1997 Kashiwazaki Earthquake.

Niigata, Japan's Bridges: Agewa Ohashi Bridge (上輪大橋) on Route 8 (1) by Mark Yashinsky is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.

Tokyo, Japan's Bridges: Komagata Bridge from the Deck of the Azuma Bridge

June 2011 (35.710 Degrees, 139.799 Degrees) Azuma Bridge

A view looking back at the Komagata Bridge from the deck of the Azuma Bridge. I'm standing on the sidewalk at the west pier, looking across the bridge deck. We can see the expansion joint between the pier and the center span. The asphalt pavement to our left is grey while the pavement on the right is red. It appears that the bridge deck stops at the expansion joint and the top of the pier was paved to become deck between the expansion joints.

The outer bridge rail is covered up so you can't see through it for some reason. There is also an inner rail to protect pedestrians from errant vehicles. Also the sidewalk curb gets deeper from the pier to midspan of the bridge.

We saw in yesterday's photo the big Asahi brewery on the northeast side of the bridge. In this photo we can see a big advertisement for Asahi beer on top of a building on the southwest side of the bridge.

Tokyo, Japan's Bridges: Komagata Bridge from the Deck of the Azuma Bridge by Mark Yashinsky is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.

Tokyo, Japan's Bridges: Azuma Bridge across the Sumida River (3)

June 2011 (35.710 Degrees, 139.799 Degrees) Azuma Bridge

A couple of photos of the Azuma Bridge and the east bank of the Sumida River. The bridge has an Art Deco look with the geometric lampposts and the rectangular sidewalk design. With the Asahi Brewery, Sky Tree Tower, elevated expressway, and modern high-rise buildings all nearby, this little corner of Tokyo looks quite exciting.

Tokyo, Japan's Bridges: Azuma Bridge across the Sumida River (3) by Mark Yashinsky is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.

Tokyo, Japan's Bridges: Azuma Bridge across the Sumida River (2)

June 2011 (35.710 Degrees, 139.799 Degrees) Azuma Bridge

The Azuma-bashi is another three span arch bridge across the Sumida River. It is 492 ft long by 73 ft wide with four traffic lanes and broad sidewalks. The bridge is a popular destination for sightseers and provides a great view of the Asahi Brewery and the Sky Tree Tower.

The Azuma Bridge is composed of three deck arch spans supported on masonry pier walls and abutments. The arch ribs are attached to the bottom of the piers and abutments with steel, pinned bearings while the deck goes over the top. There are expansion joints on each side of the pier walls.

Tokyo, Japan's Bridges: Azuma Bridge across the Sumida River (2) by Mark Yashinsky is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.

Tokyo, Japan's Bridges: Kuramae Bridge across the Sumida River (2)

June 2011 (35.701 Degrees, 139.793 Degrees) Kuramae Bridge

Another view of the Kuramae Bridge. Perhaps it is the broad width of the bridge that Sumiko Enbutsu found overwhelming in her book "The Sumida Crisscross." Round cutwaters are on both sides of the piers. Purely decorative or is the river subject to reversing currents with the tides? Whenever I visit Tokyo, I try to go on a canoe trip along its canals and rivers, but I've never noticed much of a current.

In the Google Earth View below, we get a better idea of this part of the Sumida River. The elevated Metropolitan Expressway is on the East Bank. Note the attractive pathway along the West Bank. Unfortunately, this path comes and goes without much warning, leaving you stranded.

The expansion joints are clearly visible on the Google Earth Photo. The current view is from 2009. However, a nice feature of Google Earth is that earlier photos are also available. For instance a photo from 1997 is also available just by clicking on the date in the box. The availability of bridge photos and text (and 'Street View') in Google Earth is rapidly making my blog obsolete!

Tokyo, Japan's Bridges: Kuramae Bridge across the Sumida River (2) by Mark Yashinsky is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.

Tokyo, Japan's Bridges: Kuramae Bridge across the Sumida River (1)

June 2011 (35.701 Degrees, 139.793 Degrees) Kuramae Bridge

Just upstream of the Water Line Bridge is the golden, three span Kuramae deck arch bridge. All the bridges in this area go under the Metropolitan Expressway along the river's east bank. Perhaps infrastructure is such a vital part of Tokyo's survival that no one minds having an viaduct blocking their view of the river.

The Kuramae Bridge was built in 1927 and is 570 ft long and 70 ft wide. It includes six traffic lanes and wide sidewalks. Big stone piers support the arches and the bridge decks. The book "The Sumida Crisscross" writes about nostalgic lamp posts, the granite piers, and alcoves on the bridge illustrated with drawings of Sumo wrestlers. The Sumo Arena is just a quarter mile south by the Sobu Rail Bridge. The author goes on to say that the massive bridge structure overwhelms the viewer. To my eye the bridge appears quite light and attractive and I particularly like the stone piers. I read that the bridge was painted the color of golden ears of rice because the west side of the Kuramae Bridge was the location of the Asakusa rice granaries of the Tokugawa shogunate.

After the devastating 1923 earthquake, mayor Goto Shimpei rebuilt this part of Tokyo with new parks and with iron and steel bridges. The bridges included the Kototoi (1928), the Azuma (1931), the Komagata (1927), the Kiyosiu (1928), and the Kuramae. The problem was that the former bridges were made of timber and caught fire after the earthquake. To protect Tokyo from future disasters, the use of timber structures was discouraged.

Tokyo, Japan's Bridges: Kuramae Bridge across the Sumida River (1) by Mark Yashinsky is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.

Tokyo, Japan's Bridges: Ryogoku Bridge across the Sumida River (2)

June 2011 (35.694 Degrees, 139.789 Degrees) Ryogoku Bridge

Our previous look at the Ryogoku Bridge (from the blog of June 3rd, 2009) was of a photo taken 20 years ago from a bus on the Shuto Expressway. In that photo the girders were painted turquoise and the railing was magenta. Today's blog has a photo taken last Summer when they were getting ready to repaint the bridge.

The Ryogoku Bridge was built in 1969 in a kind of Art Deco Style.  It is a 330 m long three span steel plate girder arch bridge with a 89 m. long center span. The Shuto Expressway crosses above the east abutment.

The river's current becomes complicated at this point as the Sumida is on a curve and the Kanda canal empties into the river at the bridge. Ryogoku means "bridge to connect two countries" because Shimousa Province is along the east bank and Musashi Province is on the west bank.

The Ryogoku area is the home of Sumo wrestling, restaurant boats, fireworks displays, and other entertainments.

Tokyo, Japan's Bridges: Ryogoku Bridge across the Sumida River (2) by Mark Yashinsky is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.

Utah's Bridges: Dirty Devil River Bridge (3)

May 2006 (37.916, -110.389) Dirty Devil River Bridge

A closer look at the Dirty Devil River Bridge that includes a view of the river. The explorer John Wesley Powell unintentionally named the river when he cried, "It's a dirty devil!" while navigating its currents. In my photo it really does look dirty. I read that it carries so much salt that the river has to be cleaned before it's emptied into Powell's namesake reservoir.

Conservationists are fond of reminding us that Glen Canyon Dam, Lake Powell Reservoir, this bridge (and me) are just an infinitesimal blip in geological time. With my meager knowledge of geology, I'm still torn between an urge to write about the bridge and to write about the landscape. Not that I know that much about why this bridge was built, who designed it, or who paid for it.

In today's photo we can see the 'X' bracing between the arch ribs, the steel collars that hold the arch segments together, the spandrel columns supporting the deck, the silver paint covering the steel, the amount of rock that was removed to plant the foundation into solid ground, etc. Still, I can't help noticing the huge butte (all that is left of some eroded mountain) hovering in the distance. Or sympathize with the eroded canyon, dug up by flowing water over millions of years. Or envy the trees (the only green vegetation) at the canyon's bottom.

Utah's Bridges: Dirty Devil River Bridge (3) by Mark Yashinsky is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

Utah's Bridges: Dirty Devil River Bridge (2)

May 2006 (37.91581, -110.38868) Dirty Devil River Bridge

The Freemont River and Muddy Creek come together near Hanksville to form the Dirty Devil, which flows for 80 miles before emptying into Lake Powell. In the photo above, we see red cliffs sitting above the white sandstone layer that is deeply cut by this river. Today's bridge crosses over this steep canyon at PM 50 on SR-95.

This steel deck arch bridge is 625 ft long with a 420 ft long arch span. It was built in 1965 (along with two other bridges over nearby canyons). I'm guessing the arch was built while it was supported by towers. Then the spandrel columns and deck were put on top.

I wasn't able to find too much information on this bridge. The main reference I've been using lately is 'A Traveler's Guide to the Geology of the Colorado Plateau.' This excellent book provides descriptions of the region's geology based on the post miles of highways. Too bad I don't have something similar for the region's bridges.

According to the latest inspection report in the Ugly Bridge Website, this bridge has an average daily traffic of only 285 vehicles (57 trucks) and has a sufficiency rating of 90.3.

We'll take another look at this spectacular bridge tomorrow.

Utah's Bridges: Dirty Devil River Bridge (2) by Mark Yashinsky is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

Arizona's Bridges: Glen Canyon Dam Bridge (2)

Arizona's Bridges: Glen Canyon Dam Bridge (2) by Mark Yashinsky is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

Arizona's Bridges: Glen Canyon Dam Bridge (1)

I have more ambivalent feelings about this Arizona bridge, not only because it was used to dam the Colorado River, but because I got a $500 ticket just before the bridge for crossing a double line to pass a recreational vehicle.

The Glen Canyon Dam Bridge was built in 1959. It's 1560 ft long and about 700 ft above the river. It looks a little bit like the new Navajo Bridge but with simple steel columns between the arch and the deck. We'll take another look at the bridge tomorrow.

Arizona's Bridges: Glen Canyon Dam Bridge (1) by Mark Yashinsky is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.