View source for Union Street Railroad Bridge

{{Infobox bridge
| name          = Union Street Railroad Bridge
| image         = Union Street Railroad Bridge.jpeg
| caption       =
| official_name =
| carries       = Pedestrian traffic
| crosses       = [[Willamette River]]
| locale        = [[Salem, Oregon]]<br>[[West Salem, Salem, Oregon|West Salem, Oregon]]
| maint         =
| id            =
| design        = Pratt through truss, [[vertical-lift bridge]]
| mainspan      =
| length        = 722 feet
| width         =
| height        =
| load          =
| clearance     =
| below         =
| traffic       =
| begin         =
| complete      =
| open          = March 15, 1913
{{Infobox NRHP
| embed        = yes
| name         = Union Street Railroad Bridge and Trestle
| nrhp_type    =
| image        =
| caption      =
| location     = Jct of Union St. NE and Water St. NE, [[Salem, Oregon]]
| coordinates  = {{coord|44|56|48.9|N|123|2|28.2|W|display=inline,title}}
| locmapin      = USA Oregon Salem#USA Oregon
| built         = {{Start date|1913}}
| architect     = Waddell & Harrington
| architecture  =
| added         = January 11, 2006
| refnum        = 05001520<ref name="OPRD list"/>
}}
| closed        =
| toll          =
| map_cue       =
| map_image     =
| map_text      =
| map_width     =
}}
The '''Union Street Railroad Bridge''' is a [[vertical lift bridge|vertical lift]], Pratt through [[truss bridge]] that spans the [[Willamette River]] in [[Salem, Oregon|Salem]], [[Oregon]], [[United States]], built in 1912–13. It was last used by trains in the early 1990s and was sold for one dollar in 2003 to the City of Salem, which converted it to bicycle and pedestrian use in 2008–2009. It was added to the [[National Register of Historic Places]] in 2006.
==History==
[[File:Foggy bridge, Greg Westergaard (6501971983).jpg|thumb|left|Fog surrounds the Salem Pedestrian Bridge]]
The bridge was engineered by [[Waddell & Harrington]], and the lift span uses their patented lift bridge design.<ref name=NRHPnom>{{cite web | publisher = City of Salem | title = National Register of Historic Places Registration Form: Union Street Railroad Bridge and Trestle | date=November 18, 2005 |url=http://www.cityofsalem.net/Departments/UrbanDevelopment/DepartmentProjects/UnionStreetRailroadBridge/Documents/06_dec_signed_nr_submission.pdf | access-date = August 14, 2012 | archive-date=July 19, 2011 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110719082837/https://www.cityofsalem.net/Departments/UrbanDevelopment/DepartmentProjects/UnionStreetRailroadBridge/Documents/06_dec_signed_nr_submission.pdf | url-status=dead }}</ref> The bridge was built for the [[Salem, Falls City and Western Railway]] (SFC&W), which was incorporated in 1901 as a [[logging]] railroad by [[Louis Gerlinger, Sr.|Louis Gerlinger]] and [[Charles K. Spaulding]].<ref name=SPinOR>{{cite book |title= The Southern Pacific in Oregon |last= Austin |first= Ed |author2=Tom Dill |year= 1987 |publisher= Pacific Fast Mail |pages= 26, 171 |isbn= 0-915713-14-4}}</ref> After the initial construction of a line between [[Dallas, Oregon|Dallas]] and [[Falls City, Oregon|Falls City]] in 1903, the line reached the formerly separate city of [[West Salem, Salem, Oregon|West Salem]] in 1909; passenger service across the Willamette to Salem was provided by ferry.<ref name=SPinOR/> [[Southern Pacific Transportation Company|Southern Pacific]] (SP) gained full control of the Salem, Falls City and Western in 1912, and built what was then known as the '''Salem, Falls City & Western Railway Bridge''' to connect the line to the Valley Main Line in 1913.<ref name=SPinOR/> The railway was not officially purchased by Southern Pacific until 1915, at which time the SFC&W line was listed in the SP timetable as an SP branch line.<ref name=SPinOR/> Since SP had acquired the [[Portland, Eugene and Eastern Railway]] (PE&E) about the same time, and SP had planned to use the PE&E name for an electric [[interurban]] network that was to rival the [[Oregon Electric Railway]], the bridge is also known as the '''Portland, Eugene & Eastern Railroad Bridge'''.<ref name=SPinOR/> Regular service of passenger and freight trains ended in 1945.
{{stack|[[File:Union Street Railroad Bridge at night.jpg|thumb|The bridge at night]]}}
The bridge has two towers that rise an additional {{convert|65|ft|m}} above the {{convert|35|ft|m|adj=on}} tall structure of the bridge's trusses, a 134-foot-long (41 m) center lift span, and a total length of {{convert|722|ft|m}}, excluding the {{convert|850|ft|m|adj=on}} timber [[Trestle bridge|trestle]] on the western end. The bridge's five spans sit atop five concrete piers designed to rise {{convert|35|ft|m}} above mean low water, which was intended to hold the rails {{convert|5|ft|m}} above the highest possible flood waters. The lift span was designed to provide a {{convert|55|ft|m|adj=on}} clearance during high water conditions. The lift span has been inoperable since 1980, and sometime after 1980 the operator's house – which sat atop the lift span – was removed.<ref name=NRHPnom/>
[[File:New railroad bridge over the Willamette River at Salem, Oregon, showing lift span (3229291739).jpg|thumb|left|The bridge's draw span being raised. The lift mechanism has been inoperable since 1980, and the operator's house (which also housed the motors powering the lift) has been removed.<ref name=NRHPnom/>]]
The date of the last train to cross the bridge is unknown but is believed to be in the early 1990s.<ref name=NRHPnom/> The City of Salem acquired the bridge in 2003 from the [[Union Pacific Railroad]] (which absorbed Southern Pacific in 1996) for one dollar. The railroad set up a $550,000 fund for maintenance. A $3.2 million renovation and conversion project transformed it into a bicycle and pedestrian bridge linking [[Riverfront Park (Salem, Oregon)|Riverfront Park]] and downtown Salem on the east with [[Wallace Marine Park]] and West Salem on the west. The conversion work began in 2008 and the bridge reopened, now as pedestrian bridge, on April 18, 2009.<ref name=UnionStBr-CityofSalem>{{cite web|title=Union Street Railroad Pedestrian & Bicycle Bridge|url=http://www.cityofsalem.net/unionbridge|publisher=City of Salem|access-date=December 16, 2014 | archive-date=December 14, 2010 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101214141716/http://www.cityofsalem.net/unionbridge | url-status=dead }}</ref>  It closed again temporarily in November, for additional work, including removal of [[Lead paint|lead-based paint]], and reopened on May 15, 2010.<ref>{{cite press release |url=http://www.cityofsalem.net/Annoucements/10-Union-Street-RR-Bridge-ReOpensMay15-REVISED.pdf |title=Salem's Union Street Railroad Bridge Re-Opens May 15 |author=City of Salem |date=April 30, 2010|access-date=December 16, 2014 | archive-date=December 16, 2014 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141216231704/http://www.cityofsalem.net/Annoucements/10-Union-Street-RR-Bridge-ReOpensMay15-REVISED.pdf | url-status=dead }}</ref> The bridge is also engineered to allow emergency vehicle access to supplement the [[Marion Street Bridge|Marion Street]] and [[Center Street Bridge|Center Street]] bridges.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://cherriots.org/sites/default/files/PDF%2004-24-14%20H.2%20Res%2314-03%20SRC%20Policy%20Stmt%20Rev.pdf |title= Salem River Crossing Draft Environmental Impact Statement |access-date= December 16, 2014 | archive-date=December 16, 2014 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141216232015/http://cherriots.org/sites/default/files/PDF%2004-24-14%20H.2%20Res%2314-03%20SRC%20Policy%20Stmt%20Rev.pdf | url-status=dead }}</ref>
The '''Union Street Railroad Bridge and Trestle''' (or Salem, Falls City & Western Railroad Bridge and Trestle) was added to the [[National Register of Historic Places]] on January 11, 2006.<ref name="OPRD list">{{cite web | title=Oregon National Register List | publisher=Oregon Parks and Recreation Department | url=http://www.oregon.gov/OPRD/HCD/NATREG/docs/oregon_nr_list.pdf | page=28 | format=PDF | date=June 6, 2011 | access-date=December 16, 2014 | archive-date=June 9, 2011 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110609105953/http://www.oregon.gov/OPRD/HCD/NATREG/docs/oregon_nr_list.pdf | url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name=NRHPnom/>
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== See also ==
* [[List of bridges on the National Register of Historic Places in Oregon]]
* [[List of crossings of the Willamette River]]
* [[:Image:Union Street Railroad Bridge Salem.JPG|Image from west end]]
== References ==
{{reflist}}
== External links ==
{{Commons category}}
*[http://www.cityofsalem.net/Departments/UrbanDevelopment/DepartmentProjects/UnionStreetRailroadBridge/Pages/default.aspx Bridge Conversion Project] from the City of Salem
*[http://www.fallscity.org/history/zunck/train.html The Salem, Falls City and Western Railway] from the City of Falls City
*[http://photos.salemhistory.net/cdm4/results.php?CISOOP1=all&CISOBOX1=%22railroad%20bridge%22&CISOFIELD1=subjec&CISOOP2=exact&CISOBOX2=%22Salem,%20Oregon%22&CISOFIELD2=subjec&CISOOP3=any&CISOBOX3=&CISOFIELD3=descri&CISOOP4=none&CISOBOX4=&CISOFIELD4=audiena&CISOROOT=all&CISOSTART=1,21 Historic images of the Union Street Railroad Bridge] from Salem Public Library
{{Crossings navbox
|structure        = Crossings
|place            = [[Willamette River]]
|bridge           = Union Street Railroad Bridge
|bridge signs     =
|upstream         = [[Marion Street Bridge]]
|upstream signs   = [[File:OR 22.svg|20px]]
|downstream       = [[Wheatland Ferry]]
|downstream signs =
}}
{{National Register of Historic Places Oregon}}
[[Category:Vertical lift bridges in Oregon]]
[[Category:Bridges completed in 1913]]
[[Category:Railroad bridges in Oregon]]
[[Category:Railroad bridges on the National Register of Historic Places in Oregon]]
[[Category:Buildings and structures in Salem, Oregon]]
[[Category:Former railway bridges in the United States]]
[[Category:Bridges over the Willamette River]]
[[Category:Transportation buildings and structures in Polk County, Oregon]]
[[Category:Transportation in Salem, Oregon]]
[[Category:National Register of Historic Places in Salem, Oregon]]
[[Category:Pedestrian bridges in Oregon]]
[[Category:1913 establishments in Oregon]]
[[Category:Drawbridges on the National Register of Historic Places]]
[[Category:Pratt truss bridges in the United States]]
[[Category:Metal bridges in the United States]]
[[Category:Trestle bridges in the United States]]