The Hawthorne Bridge: A Love-Hate Relationship

The Hawthorne Bridge is the creaky old senior citizen of Portland's numerous Willamette and Columbia River spans. Nearing its 100th birthday in 2010, the Hawthorne is our city's oldest bridge. I've always considered it my home bridge, so to speak, in that it's the one I use by far the most. It's not only convenient to where I live, but it also has the best pedestrian and bike amenities of just about any local bridge. But it's also the Portland span with by far the most draw bridge openings, which also take longer to complete than any other in town. Since I cross it a few times every week, I have come to think of it as the engineering version of a grandparent I love, but one who's a real nuisance sometimes too.

Yesterday while biking home from downtown around 2PM, I wheeled toward the bridgehead just as the warning lights came on and the guard rails came down. It was time for the Portland Spirit to move tourists upriver. Admittedly, I'm an impatient person, but in situations like this I grumble inside about how one tour company is making scores or hundreds of people wait. Then the wait got longer and more frustrating than seemingly was necessary. Even though the drawbridge only needed to be raised about halfway in order for the Spirit to pass through, the Hawthorne was raised all the way to its top. So what was already about a seven-minute wait now became more than ten minutes. Were I a better person, I'd have accepted this as a Zen-like pause in the day's proceedings. Instead, I ridiculously contemplated flipping off the bridge operator as we finally wheeled by.

Initially I was tempted to make this post a mere rant about how much of a pain the Hawthorne can be and how river traffic seems to get more of a priority than they deserve given the overwhelmingly larger number of people trying to use the bridges. But instead I first decided to talk with Michael Pullen, an old friend I used to work with who now is a spokesperson for Multnomah County about bridges, land use, and other public concerns.

The Hawthorne has about 300 openings a month, Mike told me. That compares to just two or three openings a month for the Broadway Bridge, which sits higher on the river. But the ambiance I feel as a pedestrian or cyclist is the flip side: the Hawthorne is lower on the river than other local spans, so there's a greater feeling of connection with the river, and less of a barrier at the bridgehead without the need to ease back downward so much to street level.

That feeling I had yesterday that the bridge was raising much higher than necessary for the Portland Spirit to pass actually was true. Apparently the Hawthorne is such an antique that the bridge has to be raised to its full height every eight hours, every day, just to keep the cables and lift mechanism properly lubricated. Usually they try and complete those lifts as much outside of peak times as possible. One happens in the middle of the night, for example. But in this case, since the bridge had to be opened anyway and it had been several hours since a full lift, Grandma Hawthorne needed us all to wait while she completed her stretches.

There are two rush-hour times when river traffic can't get a drawbridge opening unless it's an emergency: 7-9AM and 4-6PM. And those peak-hour moratoriums actually required an act of Congress to be approved. Mike tells me that the government's principle is that the river was here before the bridges were, so it has the right of way. That means for 20 hours of the day, one person on a sailboat can hold up traffic with a drawbridge opening pretty much whenever he or she wants.

This question of how low to make a bridge, and the trade-off between a low bridge's intimacy and a higher bridge's fewer drawbridge openings is a relevant one, because we'll soon have a new pedestrian and light rail bridge. I'll bet the city planners want a low bridge for ambiance and the transportation people, who are usually concerned with movement over aesthetics, will surely want one tall as can be (and preferably as ugly and cheap as possible).

So as I both rant against and celebrate the Hawthorne, just how much of our oldest bridge's ways do we want in our newest?

Comments

[Bob R.]

The Oregonian has some coverage about the new transit bridge: TriMet and other agencies involved are aiming for a non-drawbridge with a clearance of 75ft, which is the same clearance as the Sellwood Bridge, for example.

[Ethan]

My favorite bridge in town is the Steel Bridge - just 2 years older than the Hawthorne. The Steel Bridge provides an interesting compromise due to its telescoping action. For smaller boat traffic, the lower rail and pedestrian portion can open, leaving the MAX, bus, and car traffic above unimpeded. This would not necessarily solve your frustration, though it could give you the option of backtracking and riding over the top if a bridge opening were taking inordinately long. I agree with you about the intimacy of the low-bridge crossing. Especially with the water as high as it is now, I really enjoy riding the lower span of the Steel.

[chris]

Thanks for the info Brian. I used to get bit by the 9:15am lift quite often when I was living on the east side.

On the extreme end, I would argue that getting too close to the river, ie. a "floating bridge", makes it too intimate and the connection to the river is diminished.

[Grant]

"I'll bet the city planners want a low bridge for ambiance and the transportation people, who are usually concerned with movement over aesthetics, will surely want one tall as can be (and preferably as ugly and cheap as possible)."

As a city planner AND a transportation person (there are several of us), I am offended by that statement.

Yesterday's emergency, 3-hour long opening of the upper deck of the Steel Bridge at 4 PM is a prime example of why we shouldn't be building drawbridges into our transit system.

As tall as can be: necessary

cheap: unfortunately necessary. Why don't you draw up a proposal for an international bridge design competition, and we can see how the FTA likes it?

ugly as possible: ok, now you are just ranting

[BrianLibby]

Sorry about that Grant. Should have been more careful not to offend anyone. Hope we can bridge the gap.

[Ice Man]

I bike commute across the lower steel bridge span and have had to pause many a time between 7am and 9am for a barge full of gravel coming from Ross Island being pushed by a tug boat. The lower span of the Steel Bridge does not count since it only interrupts bike commuters. If I will usually take advantage of the situation and truck down the Esplanade to the Hawthorne and join the happy but speedy NE bike commuters.

[Dave]

The Broadway Bridge actually takes much longer to open, but you're right about the frequency!

[Raymond Brigleb]

Great post! Very interesting stuff.

[billb]

YESSS ! let's have a Portland Architecture Bridge Design Competition !

[Jonathan]

I work on the Portland Spirit and they don't even need to raise the bridge for the boat to go under. They just use our boat as an excuse to raise the bridge so people don't get too upset. no one ever told me exactly why they needed to raise the bridge, though. Thanks for that tidbit!

[Mike Thelin]

Three lifts a month for the Broadway? I must have poor timing. I think I've waiting on the Broadway during my last two trips across the Willamette. As for the Hawthorne, sometimes it's best avoided. But if you do have to wait, it affords nice views of South Waterfront and Ross Island.

[sid]

gondola instead!

[amanda]

Sid, do you mean a "tram." [ducks]

[J]

In response to Grant and Brian's exchange: it seems that we could have a high bridge that is attractive as well. I'm reminded of the recent tall bridge that was done by Foster, I believe, and it is good proof that tall does not have to be ugly. Of course, if cheap is a requirement, as Grant says, then maybe we are stuck.

P.S. I enjoy the pedestrian path along the bottom of the steel bridge, down close to the river.

[Mike Pullen]

Brian,

I enjoyed your piece on the Hawthorne. The poster who said the Broadway Bridge is the slowest Portland draw bridge to open and close is correct. It has an unusual design that may be rare because it is so slow.

[Rob]

It is time for an upstream to downstream review of the Willamette, particularly from Oregon City to the Broadway Bridge. Overarching authority derives from the Army Corps of Engineers for the river as a navigable waterway. Are the Oregon City locks worth preserving? How tall sailboats need to pass, and to where? What's the future of houseboat communities? Will the river's role change as floating cargo is by far the most energy efficient mode?

The Portland Spirit owner has been a less spirited civic citizen with his opposition to the Springwater trail completion. How many tens (hundreds?) of millions extra do we owe to build a fancy bridge for him to pass under?

[eenie]

Personally, I like the bridge openings--even if they delay me. I'll probably get slammed for saying this, but to me it's a salutary reminder of the fact that we live in a city that is bisected by a river. Once upon a time you'd have been worrying about whether you missed the ferry across, or watching the river rise in the spring and wondering whether it would stop before it got to your shop/office/home...

I've lived on an island, and there are times when weather stops the boats from running and there's nothing you can do about it--you're stuck, on one side or the other. Sure, it's a huge inconvenience, but it also forces you to remember that we still haven't actually conquered nature, and that's not such a bad thing to be reminded of now and then.

Yes, I understand not having time in your day for a 10-minute delay: you have an important meeting, you're picking your kid up from daycare and they charge if you're late, etc. etc. etc. But most of the time, I bet you're just annoyed because your anticipated timetable has been disrupted. Not to get all groovy on you, but why not just stop, look at the river, watch those ancient creaking gears go around... is 10 minutes really going to kill you?