- Abernethy Bridge
The Abernethy Bridge is a steel plate and box girder
bridge that spans theWillamette River between Oregon City andWest Linn, Oregon , USA. It is also known as the Oregon City Freeway Bridge and the I-205 Bridge as it carries Interstate 205.The bridge was open on
May 3 ,1970 at a cost of $15.9 million. An $8 millionseismic retrofit began in 1999 and was completed in 2002.The bridge structure contains 15 spans and 60 girders. The total length is 2,727 ft (831 m) and the vertical clearance at low river levels is 85 ft (26 m). The longest span is 430 ft (131m) and is sandwiched by two 300 ft (91 m) spans. The bridge carries six lanes of traffic (3 in each direction--two through lanes, and one merging lane). Interchanges are located at each end of the bridge--on the western end (in West Linn) is an interchange with
Oregon Route 43 ; on the eastern end (in Oregon City) is an interchange with OR 99E. The bridge is somewhat unusual in that its western approach is located on a bluff overlooking the river, whereas the eastern end is located in a lowland just south of the confluence of the Willamette and Clackamas rivers; as a result, westbound traffic on I-205 travels uphill the entire length of the bridge, and continues uphill for another half-mile before the freeway summits and heads back downhill, into the lowerTualatin River basin.The bridge was named for
George Abernethy who was the provisional governor of theOregon Territory and later an Oregon City businessman. In 2000 the average traffic was 98,100 vehicles per day.ee also
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List of crossings of the Willamette River External links
Books
Wood, Sharon. "The Portland Bridge Book". Portland: Oregon Historical Society, 2001. ISBN 0-87595-211-9.
Crossings navbox
structure = Crossings
place =Willamette River
bridge = Abernethy Bridge
bridge signs =
upstream =Oregon City Bridge
upstream signs =
downstream =Lake Oswego Railroad Bridge
downstream signs =
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