BNSF Railway Bridge 5.1
The BNSF Railway Bridge 5.1, also known as the St. Johns Railroad Bridge or the Willamette River Railroad Bridge, is a through truss railway bridge with a vertical lift that spans the Willamette River in Portland, Oregon, United States. Built by the Spokane, Portland and Seattle Railway (SP&S) and completed in 1908, it was originally a swing-span bridge, and its swing-span section was the longest in the world at the time. However, 81 years later the main span was converted from a swing-type to a vertical-lift type, in order to widen the navigation channel. The lift span is one of the highest and longest in the world. The bridge consists of five sections, with the two sections closest to the bank on each side fixed.
BNSF Railway Bridge 5.1 | |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 45.57730°N 122.74678°W |
| Carries | Freight trains and Amtrak passenger trains toward Seattle or Spokane |
| Crosses | Willamette River |
| Locale | Portland, Oregon |
| Owner | BNSF Railway |
| Characteristics | |
| Design | 1989 to present: Vertical-lift bridge 1908–89: Swing bridge |
| Total length | 1,763 feet (537 m) |
| Longest span | 516 feet (157 m) |
| No. of spans | 5 |
| Clearance below | 200 feet (61 m) when lift span fully raised |
| Rail characteristics | |
| No. of tracks | 2 |
| History | |
| Designer | Ralph Modjeski |
| Opened | 1908; main span replaced 1989 |
| Location | |
The BNSF Railway owns the bridge, and the 5.1 denotes the distance in miles from Portland's Union Station or from the nearby North Bank Depot (or Hoyt Street Depot), which was the Portland terminus of SP&S passenger service coming via this bridge until 1922. The bridge's two tracks are used by freight trains of BNSF and Union Pacific Railroad and by Amtrak passenger trains. Of 12 bridges across the Willamette River within the city of Portland, it is the sole rail-only bridge and the only bridge not open to the public. It is located at river mile 6.9.