By the year 2030, the 7.3-mile corridor that connects Portland State University to Clackamas County, OR, is projected to be home to one million new residents and nearly 100,000 new jobs. Tri-County Metropolitan Transportation District of Oregon (TriMet) provides transit along this stretch, including the landmark Tilikum Crossing, Bridge of the People.
As part of a major initiative to improve access to mass transit and expand capacity, STV provided the final trackwork design along a 1,720-foot-long, four-pier cable-stayed bridge that provides a light rail link between downtown and eastside Portland.
The bridge was the first in the U.S. to be completely closed off to private vehicles to safely accommodate light rail, bus, bicycle and pedestrian traffic. To facilitate this shared use concept, STV developed an ultra-thin embedded track design and special rail expansion joints that accommodate differential sliding, and transverse, and vertical movements of the running rails across the bridge abutments.
1st span
over Willamette River since 1973
3.5 miles
of cable
1,720
feet long
