Sellwood Bridge closed tonight for repairs August 24th
Repairs will close the Sellwood Bridge tonight and possibly tomorrow night as a contractor completes work to fill concrete cracks to prevent steel corrosion and further cracking. The work will require the bridge to be closed to traffic (except for bicycles and pedestrians) from 6:30 pm to 5:00 am.
The $100,000 project involves cleaning 450 lineal feet of cracks and filling them with an epoxy. The process prevents water from corroding steel rebar in the concrete and slows the growth of cracks. Work began two weeks ago and will be completed this week.
The concrete cracks are on the land-based approaches to the bridge on both sides of the river. The cracks are injected with epoxy on weeknights when the bridge is closed, which allows the epoxy to cure without vibrations from traffic.
When the bridge is closed, the nearest alternate river crossing to the north is the Ross Island Bridge. Access to the Ross Island Bridge is available via Highway 43/SW Macadam Ave. on the west side and via SE Milwaukie Ave. and SE Powell Blvd. on the east side. The nearest bridges to the south are the Abernethy Bridge (I-205) and the Oregon City Bridge.
The vehicle weight limit on the bridge was reduced to 10 tons in 2004 after cracks were found in concrete girders that support the bridge deck. This summer’s repairs will not allow those weight limits to be increased. But the project should extend the life of the bridge at its current service level until a long-term solution is implemented.
Multnomah County maintains the Sellwood Bridge and more than 300 miles of roads and bridges.
Posted on August 25, 2008
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