Zhe Lu

Professor Evan Robert Farr

Freshman Inquiry 108I: Portland
09 Feb 2015
Portland bridges
In Portland, there is a river cross through this city: Willamette River. This river is
a major tributary of the Columbia River and 187 miles long. More than 50 miles in
Portland, and also there are 12 bridges over the Portland part Willamette River. These
bridges have different name, some of them were named by celebrities name. While,
some of them were named by spaces name or roads name. Also, these bridges have
different functions what people could use that. For example, the Steel Bridge carries
Max light rail and union pacific railway, and Broadway Bridge carries cars and
bicycles form the Broadway road. Some of them are through arch bridge, such as
Fremont Bridge. Some of them are Cable-stayed bridge, as same as the style that St.
Johns Bridge has. So there are many types bridges in Portland and each of them has
their own advantages and disadvantages. These advantages and disadvantages due to
their different architectures and different functions. Therefore, this paper would
introduce advantages of each architectures, what functions they have and what these
bridges should be changed in the future urban planning.
Different architecture has different advantages. Weather the bridge has which type
of architectures, the advantage of that type bridge is different. In Portland, there are
three common types that engineers use to build bridges: Steel arch bridge, suspension
bridge and truss bridge. The steel arch bridge is a common bridge type that engineers
use to build bridge. In Portland, both Fremont Bridge and Ross Island Bridge used
this bridge type. For the steel arch bridge type, these steel arch type bridges consists

of spans symmetrically located on both sides of the arch span. The main span of this
type bridge is a steel-girder arch. For example, The Fremont bridge (Fig 1)has 20
spans in both side. Also, the Wei-Xin Ren ; Tong Zhao ; and Issam E. Harik, M.ASCE
state that the steel arch type bridges include superstructure part and floor system.
While the superstructure part consists of the vertical and lateral load carrying systems,
and the deck system. They state The horizontal bracing system is a combination of
transverse and diagonal bracings. Two wall type piers and an arch configuration
supports the main span of the arch bridge. The arch span consists of 28 horizontal
brace members, 11 vertically braced members, two portal braced members, and 24
diagonally braced members. The 26 main suspended steel wire ropes (13 on one side)
are vertically attached on both sides of the arch and the floor system is suspended
through these wire ropes.( Experimental and Analytical Modal Analysis of Steel
Arch Bridge). It means each side includes 28 spans to keep the bridge stable and
could carry more weight. Also for this bridges type, the peak picking also could show
it is stable. The peak picking is a frequency domain-based technique. Wei-Xin Ren ;
Tong Zhao ; and Issam E. Harik, M.ASCE state that due to using frequency technique
to measure the structure of the bridge, they should use data what been measured to
calculate the input force what this bridge could carry to proof the stable of a bridge.
There is an equation to should how to do this calculation. MU*(t)+CU*(t)
+KU*=F*(t), where the M, C and K = mass,damping and stiffness matrices of the
structure; and U(t) and F(t) displacement and input force vectors. For this equation,
the more mass of the steel arch type bridge get, the more input force that others give
his type bridge could carry, as similar as the damping and stiffness matrices. For
example, some engineers measure the Fremont Bridge by using the SAP2000 finite
element analysis software. This software is used to measure Three-dimensional linear

elastic finite element models of the arch span. After they measure that, they got a table
shows that each vertical in the superstructure part could carry a lot weight.
The other bridge type in Portland is suspension bridge, it is a type of bridge in
which the deck (the load-bearing portion) is hung below suspension cables on vertical
suspenders. The suspension cables are anchored at each end of the bridge, since any
load applied to the bridge is transformed into a tension in these main cables. The St.
Johns Bridge is a typical example what the suspension architecture bridge is.
(should find more information about the suspenders bridge).
Moreover, these different type bridges have different functions that people used in
their life. Some of them are carried light rail and some of them are carried cars or
bicycles.

Portland bridges be really important role in individuals real life. One person
would use each bridge many many times per year because these bridges are pretty
good and have lot of advantages. However, there is no doubt that the architecture of
these bridges is good, they still should be changed. In the article A Tale of Portland
Bridges. The author Mia Birk states many bridges in Portland do not have bicycle
lane or they just have a very narrow one. Also, some bridges architecture is so mass
that the bicycle would stun the traffic. For example, the Hawthorne bridges
architecture is so mass before. People who ride bicycle have to go through one road to
arrive the bicycle lane in Hawthrone bridge. These bicycles often make sharp stun or
traffic jam. Therefore, after that, the government changed the road and wide the
bicycle lane to 10.5 feet. It is a example that government changed the architecture of a
bridge and make people life more convenient.