History Being Made: A Visit to Portland's Sellwood Bridge

Ah, it's late and I am typing this by candlelight so I'll hurry and

 hope I don't make too many errors in the process

(also some fresh blueberries and crab await me-another reason to hurry).

Today was a glorious day--sunny, blue skies, temperature above 32 degrees,

and I had, as usual, been doing some browsing on the Internet when I became intrigued

at what I found there.

A field trip was certainly needed, and off a friend and I went in search of history

(some of it in our past and some of it being made now).

*insert fresh crab and blueberry break here as I couldn't wait...

Definitely on my trip itinerary was a stop to see one of Portland's old bridges that is being replaced.

Now, this bridge and I have a love-hate relationship.

I HATE going over it,

and I love it when I am safely OFF it

(just ask my dear daughter-in-law).

Alas---two other Portland bridges have this same effect on me,

as does the lovely Tacoma Narrows bridge in Washington state.

But we won't talk about that right now...

~

Now as much as I DO hate this bridge,

it IS part of Portland's history (built 1925) and it is being MOVED...

to become a temporary bridge while a new, much wider bridge is being built

where the old one is right now.

~

I felt that this kind of history called for a personal goodbye and visit from me, so off we went.

~

They had closed the bridge at 0500 and were hard at work on it,

separating the main part of the bridge from the west and east accesses to it;

Saturday they will move the truss over and onto the temporary supports.

BTW this is a photo of the Willamette River...

the river that divides the City of Roses.

This photo is taken from west Portland.

On the other side, in SE Portland, is the Sellwood District and

 Oaks Park--

an awesome historical amusement park with a great historical roller skating rink

(love, love, love it there!)

Last time I was over this bridge,

with my dear DIL and tease of a hubby,

I told them it wasn't safe...

today I sent her and my dear daughter a photo to prove my point.

I know, you all agree with me:)

Smartphones can be so handy at times, especially when you 'need' to prove a point.

Although this isn't the best photo

(taken while we driving)

I think you can see the new, temporary supports for the bridge.

I think...

1100 feet of bridge truss being moved...

THIS Saturday.

~

I'd SO love to see it in person,

but this Saturday we're working on a little project of our own...

I guess I'll have to content myself with the fact that I was there on the first day of the bridge's closure

and catch a glimpse of the time lapse video they'll post here the day after the move

http://www.sellwoodbridge.org/?p=bridge-move-and-detour-bridge

**Correction: the above site has a lot of information about the bridge, the move, etc...
but this link will bring you to the actual daily time lapse video:
http://www.sellwoodbridge.org/?p=construction-camera
 

 

Next up---a trip to the OK Corral and Wild, Wild West...sort of:)

 

How was your day?

Blessings,
Aimee

 

Photos taken January 17, 2013