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Boone Bridge (Oregon)

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Coordinates: 45°17′30″N 122°46′10″W / 45.291766°N 122.76932°W / 45.291766; -122.76932
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Boone Bridge
West side of the bridge from the north bank
Coordinates45°17′30″N 122°46′10″W / 45.291766°N 122.76932°W / 45.291766; -122.76932
Carries I-5
CrossesWillamette River
LocaleWilsonville, Oregon
Maintained byOregon Department of Transportation
Characteristics
Designsteel girder
floorbeam system[1]
Total length1,111 feet (339 m)[1]
Width116 feet (35 m)
Clearance below75 feet (23 m)[1]
History
Opened1954
Location
Map

Boone Bridge is a steel girder highway bridge over the Willamette River at Wilsonville, Oregon, in the United States. Built in 1954, it crosses the river to the Charbonneau section of Wilsonville, carrying Interstate 5 into the open Willamette Valley from the Portland metropolitan area. Maintained by the Oregon Department of Transportation, the 1,111-foot-long (339 m) bridge has three travel lanes in each direction. To the west is the site of the former Boone's Ferry, which the bridge replaced.

History

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Alphonso Boone (grandson of Daniel Boone) and his son Jesse Boone started the Boone's Ferry over the Newberg Pool stretch of the Willamette River in 1847.[2] They also cleared timber and constructed a road south towards Salem and north towards Portland, creating the first overland connection from Salem to the northern section of the Willamette Valley.[2] A railroad bridge was constructed just upriver in 1907 and was used for the Oregon Electric Railway.[3]

In 1953, Oregon began construction of a highway bridge just east of the ferry landings to carry what became Interstate 5.[4] The four-lane, north-south aligned bridge was finished in 1954 and opened to traffic in July, with the ferry ending service at that time.[3] The state named the bridge Boone Bridge in honor of the Boone family.[5] At the time there was a bronze marker in one of the bridge's piers to commemorate the name, but it was removed when the bridge was later widened.[6]

The state widened Boone Bridge from its original four lanes of traffic to a total of six lanes in 1970, with three lanes in each direction.[4] On April 1, 1995, the bridge was re-dedicated as the Boone Bridge and a sign added to the bridge along with a plaque at the nearby rest area to honor the earlier ferry.[6][7] From 1998 to 1999 the bridge was retrofitted with steel cables and a new roadway in order to prepare the bridge for earthquakes at a cost of $4 million.[4] In May 1999, a ten car accident on the bridge backed up traffic for nine hours.[8] The fatal crash led to a temporary reduction in the speed limit.[8] By 2008, the bridge carried in excess of 131,300 cars per day.[9]

Details

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Constructed of steel girders on the underside, the bridge is 1,111 feet (339 m) long.[1] Boone Bridge measures 116 feet (35 m) in width and rises 75 feet (23 m) above the river.[1] The Canby Ferry, which also crosses the Willamette, is a few miles to the east. There is a Portland & Western Railroad rail bridge just upriver, to the west of Boone Bridge.

The bridge is considered a choke point in the regional transportation system with Oregon Route 217 and Interstate 205 funneling traffic onto Interstate 5 to cross the river at the bridge.[10] Oregon transportation officials have proposed several options including a new span, as well as new highway sections to connect Oregon Route 18 directly to Interstate 5 south of the bridge along with extending Interstate 205 south of Oregon City to connect with I-5 at Aurora or Woodburn.[10] Replacing the existing bridge is estimated to cost $48,424,000.[11]

View from west on south bank of river
View in the mid-1950s from the soon-to-be-closed landing of the Boone's Ferry

This is the second crossing of the Willamette by Interstate 5, the first being downstream in Portland on the Marquam Bridge.

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b c d e NBI Structure Number: 02254A001 28311.[permanent dead link] National Bridge Inventory, accessed October 22, 2007.
  2. ^ a b Tims, Dana. Then & Now: Starting out small. The Oregonian, July 20, 2000.
  3. ^ a b Boone Bridge history. The Oregonian, May 25, 2006.
  4. ^ a b c Tims, Dana. Boone Bridge will become quake-proof. The Oregonian, April 9, 1998.
  5. ^ Goetze, Janet. Boone's Landing. The Oregonian, July 2, 2004.
  6. ^ a b Boone, Jerry. Boone family quilt will tie up loose ends at dedication. The Oregonian, March 30, 1995.
  7. ^ Garrison, Cindy. "Story by: Cindy Garrison",[permanent dead link] Wilsonville Spokesman, April 3, 2002.
  8. ^ a b Ramirez, Pete. State cuts I-5 speed limit at pileup site. The Oregonian, May 13, 1999.
  9. ^ "2008 Traffic Volumes on State Highways" (PDF). Oregon Department of Transportation. August 27, 2009. Archived from the original (PDF) on 1 April 2010. Retrieved 4 April 2010.
  10. ^ a b Tims, Dana. Bottleneck at Boone Bridge. The Oregonian, May 25, 2006.
  11. ^ "Draft Economic and Bridge Options Report: A report to the Oregon Transportation Commission" (PDF). Oregon Department of Transportation. January 15, 2003. p. 112. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2006-12-18. Retrieved 2007-07-23.
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