PORTLAND, Ore. — The Hawthorne Bridge has reopened after a brief closure for emergency repairs Tuesday afternoon.
Multnomah County announced the closure just after 2:30 p.m., and confirmed at around 3:15 p.m. that the bridge had reopened.
According to a brief statement from the county, crews were conducting a test of the venerable bridge's vertical lift around 1:30 p.m. when the electronic components that move it up and down "malfunctioned." The lift span of the bridge got stuck just a few inches from level and couldn't be moved down electronically, Multnomah County said.
Crews were able to move the lift down manually in order to reopen the bridge and resume traffic about an hour and a half later.
It's unclear whether the closure applied to the bridge's sidewalks as well. The county's notice didn't say, but pedestrians could still be seen walking across the bridge after the roadway was closed off.
Multnomah County is in charge of maintenance on the Hawthorne Bridge, along with the Broadway, Burnside, Morrison and Sellwood bridges. The other Willamette River bridges in Portland are maintained by the Oregon Department of Transportation, Union Pacific Railroad or TriMet.
Built in 1910, the Hawthorne Bridge has the distinction of being the oldest operating vertical lift bridge in the U.S. It uses a system of counterweights and cables to move the lift span up and down.
According to Multnomah County, most of the bridge's operating system is still original. The electrical power and control systems, first installed in 1975, got an upgrade in 1999.
Because vertical clearance on the bridge is so low, it has to be lifted as many as 200 times per month.
Despite its age, the Hawthorne Bridge is one of Portland's busiest crossings — carrying an estimated 30,000 cars and trucks, 800 TriMet buses, 8,000 bicycles and numerous pedestrians each day.
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