Day 8 of #ridingeverydayinNovember

The good weather continues.  It reached 64F as I was pedaling today! I started off from Sellwood Riverside Park. I was going to ride the Springwater Corridor path out toward Boring, but hesitated to ride the 15ish blocks of open streets early in the route to get over the missing link. Instead I pedaled toward Portland and the Eastbank Esplanade, but first rode to the top of the nearby Sellwood Bridge to get a photo of my destination.

I rode consistently along without stopping until I reached the northern terminus of my route today, the Steel Bridge. I pedaled across the river and began my southward return. 

I took photos of Portland's bridges as I passed them.  (the Broadway, Fremont, Burlington Northern Rail Bridge, and the beautiful St John's Bridge remained farther downstream, but I would not be riding them today) It continues to amaze me how many of Portland's Willamette River bridges are unique in some aspect.

The first photo of bridges today was a look back at the Steel Bridge that I had just crossed.

The next bridge that I'd pass on my upstream journey would be the Burnside Bridge'

I continued along the seawall coming next to the Morrison Bridge, with its 36 ft tall gears and 940 ton counter weights, it is the largest machine in Oregon.

Next up was the Hawthorne Bridge. The Hawthorne Bridge is the busiest bicycle bridge in Oregon with over 8000 cyclists a day making the crossing. It was the first bridge in the USA to have an electronic bicycle counter installed, and is the oldest bridge in Portland.

                           

Next was the Marquam Bridge, this utilitarian freeway bridge carries Interstate 5 and does not have a good location to get a photo from this side of the river.

It is followed closely by the Tilicum Crossing-Bridge of the People, Portland's newest bridge

Steve Morgan got a better photo than I did, so this is his

I would normally cross back over the river on the Tilicum Bridge, but today decided to pedal farther south and get a photo of the Ross Island Bridge, since my ride had morphed into a "Tour of Portland's Bridges".  I picked my way along MUPs and followed signage for known points south.

I saw a bicycle navigation sign that directed me toward Willamette Park.

  I don't believe I've ever biked the section south of here before.  Until 2010  I know that Staff Jennings occupied the shore between the river and Hwy 43 and there would be no room for a bike path.  I remember visiting that store with my dad when he needed parts for his Evinrude outboard boat motor. Today signage kept directing me south.

There was a series of narrow paths snaking southward, and a short section of nearly isolated residential street before I came upon a wide modern bike path, marking the approach to the Sellwood Bridge. The Sellwood Bridge has the highest traffic count of any 2 lane bridge in Oregon.

I pedaled across the Sellwood Bridge, playing tourist as I did so. I stopped at every informational sign along the span.You can click on any photo to view it full size, allowing you to read the small print more easily.

I stopped mid span to take a photo back upstream.  The next bridge would be 10 miles upstream in Oregon City, just below Willamette Falls.

It was a nice ride with great weather!


...........Road Bike......Rollers........MTB...........Lifecycle......Total

Today.......13..................0.................0......................0............13

Jan...........0.................. 0..................0.....................0..............0
Feb...........0..................0..................0.....................0...............0

March.......0..................0..................0.....................0...............0

April..........0.................0..................0......................0...............0

May..........0..................0..................80....................0..............80

June........63.................0..................59....................0..............122

July..........86.................0..................78....................0..............206

August......24.................0.................0.....................0..............24

September.23................0.................0.....................0..............23

October........0................0.................0.....................0................0

November....74..............0.................0.....................0.............74

YTD.........297...............0................218.....................0.............516