BNSF Railway Bridge 5.1

The original, swing-span bridge was built in 1906–08 by the Spokane, Portland and Seattle Railway (SP&S), as part of construction of a new line between Vancouver, Washington and Portland. SP&S was formed jointly by the Northern Pacific Railway and Great Northern Railway, originally as the Portland & Seattle Railway, to build and ultimately operate new railroad lines from Portland to Seattle and Portland to Spokane, but was renamed Spokane, Portland & Seattle Railway—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" At that time, Portland's Steel, Burnside, Morrison and Madison Street bridges were all swing-type, with center pivot piers seen by boat pilots as inconvenient obstacles. The Port of Portland organized a committee in January 1906 to determine the feasibility of a bascule-type draw span by inspecting existing bascule bridges in Chicago and other eastern cities. and the president of the Portland & Seattle Railway stated his preference for a swing draw "as being more serviceable and reliable and better adapted to the river channel." After undertaking their inspection, the Port of Portland committee also concluded that a bascule design would be impractical. The original recommendation for a swing span was ultimately accepted, and plans for the bridge were sent to the Secretary of War for approval in May 1906. Construction of the Willamette River bridge began in August 1906. The first train crossed on October 23, 1908, and the bridge opened for regular use in November. The Spokane, Portland and Seattle Railway's first scheduled passenger train on the new line into and out of Portland operated on November 17, 1908, and the terminus in Portland was the North Bank Depot on N.W. Hoyt Street at 11th Avenue, rather than Union Station. SP&S service moved to Union Station in 1922. (officially shortened to BNSF Railway in 2005). ==Accidents==

The bridge sustained heavy damage on October 29, 1978, when it was struck by a Norwegian container ship, the m.v. Marie Bakke. The ship hit the downstream end of the swing span, which had been in the fully open position; that was its normal position, as the span was closed only when trains needed to cross. Repairs took seven weeks, not being completed until January 1979. Meanwhile, BN and Amtrak trains had to be rerouted via Union Pacific tracks and across the Steel Bridge to reach the west side of the river. and ultimately reached an out-of-court settlement under which it received about $3.5 million from the shipping company. resulting in the deaths of two crew members. It was the worst train-related accident in the bridge's history. The cause was determined to have been human error, that the train crew had passed a red signal. ==Rebuilding as vertical-lift bridge==

The center swing span was replaced by a vertical-lift span and towers in a two-year project completed in 1989, funded primarily by a federal grant. Prior to this change, numerous ships had struck the bridge over the years, After design and engineering were completed, a $28 million contract was awarded in May 1987 to Portland-based Riedel International Inc. to carry out the work. The Coast Guard financed most of the cost of the conversion, but Burlington Northern paid about 3 percent of the cost. In order to minimize disruption to both river traffic and rail traffic, the project was carefully coordinated to allow the change to be made over just 72 hours. This work began on August 8, 1989, with removal of the 81-year-old swing-span section, The pivot pier was removed by dynamite blasting three months later, after the fall fish run, and with that final step the navigation channel was widened from to . When fully raised, it provides vertical clearance of at low water. The new lift span weighs . It is made of weathering steel, which is designed to rust naturally and thus turn a reddish brown. However, the remainder of the bridge, the fixed spans dating from 1908, are painted silver. This has given the rebuilt structure two distinct colors, and the unusual combination has been called unattractive by some. ==Operation==

, looking southeast The bridge carries two tracks across the Willamette River and is used by freight trains and Amtrak trains. Although BNSF Railway owns and controls the bridge, the company is required to allow access to other railroads, under a law already in force by 1906 allowing common use of railway bridges across navigable waterways. Signals on both approaches prevent trains from entering the bridge when the lift span is up, but as a precaution, all trains are still required to radio the bridge tender to obtain permission to cross. A bridge tender is on duty 24 hours a day, year-round. The bridge is crossed by about 30 to 35 trains per day. ==See also==