The Gibbs Street Pedestrian Bridge, more formally known as the US Congresswoman Darlene Hooley Pedestrian Bridge at Gibbs Street, is an approximately

pedestrian bridge A footbridge (also a pedestrian bridge, pedestrian overpass, or pedestrian overcrossing) is a bridge designed solely for pedestrians.''Oxford English Dictionary'' While the primary meaning for a bridge is a structure which links "two points at a ...

Portland Portland most commonly refers to: *Portland, Oregon, the most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon *Portland, Maine, the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maine *Isle of Portland, a tied island in the English Channel Portland may also r ...

Oregon Oregon ( , ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is a part of the Western U.S., with the Columbia River delineating much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while t ...

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

, which opened on July 14, 2012. It connects the Lair Hill neighborhood with the

South Waterfront The South Waterfront is a high-rise district under construction on former brownfield industrial land in the South Portland neighborhood south of downtown Portland, Oregon, U.S. It is one of the largest urban redevelopment projects in the Unite ...

area. It is a steel box girder bridge, a change from the original plans for an

extradosed bridge An extradosed bridge employs a structure that combines the main elements of both a prestressed box girder bridge and a cable-stayed bridge. The name comes from the word ''wikt:extrados, extrados'', the exterior or upper curve of an arch, and refe ...

, made to reduce the project's cost. The bridge crosses I-5 and SW Macadam Avenue, and connects SW Kelly Avenue on the west side to SW Moody Avenue on the east side. At the Moody Avenue end there is a stop on the

Portland Streetcar The Portland Streetcar is a streetcar system in Portland, Oregon, that opened in 2001 and serves areas surrounding downtown Portland. The NS Line runs from Northwest Portland to the South Waterfront via Downtown and the Pearl District. Th ...

's NS Line, and the

Portland Aerial Tram The Portland Aerial Tram or OHSU Tram is an aerial tramway in Portland, Oregon, that connects the city's South Waterfront district and the main Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) campus, located in the Marquam Hill neighborhood. It is on ...

's lower terminus is located across the street. Construction began in January 2011 and was completed in June 2012.Home page, Gibbs Street Pedestrian Bridge Project
Retrieved June 23, 2012.

Background

The project dates back to 2005 with approval of the federal Transportation Equity Act of 2005 which dedicated $5 million to the project. The preliminary design was approved by the Portland City Council on December 3, 2008. It was originally to be an extradosed-type bridge. In the first round of bidding, the project exceeded the allotted budget, and consequently needed to be rescaled. This in turn delayed the timeline and led to a simpler design. After undergoing technical engineering design and detailed neighborhood impact assessment, the refined project was opened to bidding in autumn 2010, and the city council awarded a $6.7 million construction contract to Wildish Standard Paving Company of

Eugene Eugene may refer to: People and fictional characters * Eugene (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * Gene Eugene, stage name of Canadian born actor, record producer, engineer, composer and musi ...

. The overall budget, originally anticipated to be between $7 million and $11.3 million, is expected to be met mostly by federal funds, with ten percent local funding. Early public opinion was mixed, but turned favorable as the plan progressed, particularly by those living nearby. One of the provisions of the 2002–2006 tram construction was to bury existing powerlines in the underlying neighborhoods, but those plans were dropped when the highly controversial tram project encountered significant budget overruns. The pedestrian bridge was another mitigating concession promised. The $11.3 million congressional allotment may have been to also pay for a study to improve access to the

Ross Island Bridge The Ross Island Bridge is a cantilever truss bridge that spans the Willamette River in Portland, Oregon. It carries U.S. Route 26 ( Mount Hood Highway) across the river between southwest and southeast Portland. The bridge opened in 1926 and w ...

. Eastbound traffic for the bridge frequently clogs the Lair Hill neighborhood while waiting to merge. Mayor

Sam Adams Samuel Adams (, 1722 – October 2, 1803) was an American statesman, political philosopher, and a Founding Father of the United States. He was a politician in colonial Massachusetts, a leader of the movement that became the American Revolu ...

has said that whatever funds are left over from the Gibbs Bridge project can be used for studying the Ross Island auto-access problem. The bridge was dedicated on July 14, 2012, and given the formal name US Congresswoman Darlene Hooley Pedestrian Bridge at Gibbs Street in honor of retired representative

Darlene Hooley Darlene Kay Olson Hooley (born April 4, 1939) is an American politician and former Democratic member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Oregon who represented the state's . A high school teacher by profession, she served as a city counc ...

Description, usage

To compensate for the elevation difference at the ends of the bridge, an

elevator An elevator (American English) or lift (Commonwealth English) is a machine that vertically transports people or freight between levels. They are typically powered by electric motors that drive traction cables and counterweight systems suc ...

and a

bicycle stairway A bicycle stairway is a pedestrian stairway which also has a channel alongside it to facilitate walking a bicycle up or down the stairway. The channel itself is also often called a wheeling ramp, push ramp or runnel. There is no standard in the ...

was built at the South Waterfront end to serve the five-story height. It includes a 132-step stairway with rest areas. Estimates of existing demand indicate that if the bridge opened in 2009, summertime usage would total 466 crossings per day, composed half of bicycle use and half pedestrian use. With school in session, fall usage is expected to increase to 730 crossings per day: 310 by bicycle and 420 pedestrians. By 2035, usage is estimated at 3,000 to 4,000 crossings per day. The Portland Bureau of Transportation took counts at the bridge in September 2014. Over a two-hour period on a weekday afternoon, 543 pedestrians and cyclists used the bridge.

References

External links

Collection of articles about the bridge
by ''Bike Portland'' {{South Portland, Portland, Oregon 2012 establishments in Oregon Bike paths in Oregon Box girder bridges in the United States Bridges completed in 2012 Bridges in Portland, Oregon Cyclist bridges in the United States Pedestrian bridges in Oregon South Portland, Portland, Oregon Steel bridges in the United States

Background

Description, usage

See also

References

External links