Sellwood Bridge makes slow move onto temporary supports
SELLWOOD, Ore. — Inch-by-inch, the Sellwood Bridge is on the move.
Hundreds of onlookers spent a sunny, but cold Saturday watching the 87-year-old southeast Portland span move a few yards to aid the construction of its replacement.
"It's been quite interesting. I've enjoyed the whole process," said Robert Seidel. "I'm just amazed by the engineering."
The bridge weighs almost 7 million pounds and is nearly 11,000 feet long. It will be moved about 66 feet on the west end and 33 feet on the east end onto temporary supports.
- Read more: Guide to the big move
Engineers reported no problems Saturday afternoon and said the move should be finished by late Saturday evening. The bridge moved at a pace of about 3/4 of an inch per minute.
"It's like watching paint dry, but as you can see it's off its base," said Seidel.
Dorene Petersen lives near the construction site. She spent Saturday morning sweeping away a mess.
"Quite phenomenal really," she said. "This morning there was so much fog we could barely see it, and there was certainly evidence on the patio because there was concrete dust everywhere."
Crews said everything remains on schedule for the bridge to reopen by Thursday, Jan. 24.
It will then be used for another 2 1/2 years, with the new permanent Sellwood Bridge scheduled to open in mid-2015.
KATU's Joe Raineri contributed to this story.
this is why America is failing. 3.5 years to build a simple bridge.
This would make a cool car chase seen....
can't we just buy a new bridge at walmart?
Granted it's only 1100 feet long, but this is pretty remarkable. Kudos to the engineers and workers.
11,000 feet long. LOL
You all should bill KATU for proofreading services.
Â
This goes to show you what happens when a
company lets go experienced employees and
replaces them with interns to do the same work.
I looked at the image and thought..."Oops! I think someone miscalculated!"Â :-)Â
It would make a good caption-this contest.
Â
All this to-do about a bridge. In a thousand years it won't matter.
Regardless, '1812' with your questionable facts - who really cares, I stood on that bridge in the 50's to watch some incredible fireworks and have traversed that bridge by foot, by bicycle and by car since the 50's. For a lot of folks, facts & figures mean nothing, it was part of our history, SIR...Â
If the Sellwood Bridge is 11,000 feet long it must weigh 7 Billion pounds, not 7 million. They are also probably moving this 7 billion pound, 11,000 foot long bridge 660 feet on the west end and 330 feet on the east end. And to think it took both the AP and KATU staff to write this inaccurate piece of dung. Amazing that these people actually get paid.
 @I812 they probably got the whole story from twitter or facebook. copy and paste news.
And, for what it is worth, I will not be driving over the temporary span. There are many options for crossing the river and it's not that I am afraid of the engineering of the temporary supports, they just don't need my extra traffic. I rarely cross the Sellwood bridge as it is.
 @Gleeker Translation: You're afraid. It's OK to be afraid of things.
Â
Yeah, the span is 1,100 feet not 11,000 feet. Nice fact checking on the journalism. Not just here but on all the news websites that I have checked.
@Gleeker I wondered why my mileage jumped so dramatically every time I crossed the Sellwood bridge! Now I know.Â
11,000 feet long? A plane can take off 11,000 feet long runway at Portland International Airport.Â
@Michael R. Newton I don't think PDX has any 11,000foot long runways. Maybe they should turn the Sellwood bridge into a new runway, LOL
 Actually they do have one that's11011 ft long.
Â
@disgustedman I stand corrected.Â
No way. No way am I driving on the skinny little overloaded bridge that was already stressed, and is now going to be on temporary supports (stilts). If you like to live dangerously, go ahead. Hope we don't get even a mild earthquake.
11,000 feet long? Â WTF? Â That's over 2 miles, and I KNOW the Sellwood bridge isn't two miles long. Â