Feat of civic engineering

Yesterday morning the majority of the existing Sellwood Bridge moved from the old supports to the new supports so it can have a second life as the temporary bridge while the new bridge is constructed. What a process. I learned much from the ODOT worker on the roof of our building, who was shooting a time lapse video of the event. There were lasers used to ensure the bridge didn't bow too much, there were small (considering the size of the bridge) hydraulic lifts that were used to push the bridge north (this process was very slow), the hydraulic lifts were linked together and controlled by one main lift near the center support of the bridge (the guy there monitored and spoke with the other lift operators to make sure everything was operating as it was supposed to), the bridge moved two inches on the west side for every one inch on the east side, lots of people were interested in seeing this event (our street was crazy busy with foot traffic). Of course, there were pictures...

morning of move view from my window

fog and bridge

rickety railing

the bridge!

it's moving, really slowly, but it is moving

poor halfway destroyed old supports in the middle

bridge and its neighbors to the north

more community rooftops than bridge