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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Getting There

Portland’s bridge for everything but cars

Portland's Tilikum Crossing, which is designed to carry light rail trains, buses, cyclists, pedestrians and streetcars. Not cars. (Courtesy Tri-Met)
Portland's Tilikum Crossing, which is designed to carry light rail trains, buses, cyclists, pedestrians and streetcars. Not cars. (Courtesy Tri-Met)

Later this year, a new bridge will span the Willamette River in Portland.

Portland, like Spokane, is a bridge city, so any new bridge is notable. This one - called the Tilikum Crossing - is especially interesting, as it allows every mode of transport to cross. Except cars.

Last month, Jonathan Maus, editor and publisher at BikePortland.org, was given a sneak peek of the bridge. The photos on his post present a Bizarro world bridge that could only exist in Portland, one of the bike-friendliest cities in the nation. Maus, a longtime bike advocate in the city, is rightfully in awe of the project's scope, but digs into the details throughout his post:

This exciting new piece of infrastructure will grab a ton of headlines not just because it’s the first new bridge to be built across the Willamette in over 40 years — but because it’s one of the only spans in America where every mode will be allowed except for private cars.

Let that sink in: No cars or trucks means this bridge — one-third of a mile in our dense, central city transportation network — will have only a fraction of the noise, toxic pollutants, and safety hazards that private motorized vehicles plague our city with each day.

Spokane has its own, much smaller, no-car-but-also-no-light-rail-or-streetcar bridge coming to the University District. It most assuredly won't come with this traffic signal.

Bike signal on Portland's Tilikum Crossing. (Courtesy BikePortland.org)
Bike signal on Portland's Tilikum Crossing. (Courtesy BikePortland.org)

Or a view such as this.

View of Portland's Tilikum Crossing. (Courtesy BikePortland.org)
View of Portland's Tilikum Crossing. (Courtesy BikePortland.org)

Is the Tilikum Crossing the coolest bridge you've ever seen? Or are the Utopian dreamers of Portlandia trying to anger us?



Nicholas Deshais
Joined The Spokesman-Review in 2013. He is the urban issues reporter, covering transportation, housing, development and other issues affecting the city. He also writes the Getting There transportation column and The Dirt, a roundup of construction projects, new businesses and expansions. He previously covered Spokane City Hall.

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