Editing Interstate Bridge (section)

==First bridge==
[[File:InterstateBridge1917.png|thumb|left|Interstate Bridge looking north from Oregon, 1917]]
[[File:PC interstate-5 bridge cars ca1920.jpg|thumb|left|Postcard showing [[streetcar]] tracks, period autos]]
Before a permanent crossing existed between Portland and Vancouver, there was an overcrowded [[ferry]] system operated by Pacific Railway, Light & Power Co.

Plans for the original bridge began as early as 1912, with local efforts leading to an initial survey and bond measures totaling $2,000,000; $1.5 million contributed from Portland, and $500,000 from Vancouver. [[Waddell & Harrington]] were retained as the project's consulting engineers.<ref>{{Cite journal |date=August 12, 1914 |title=The $1,750,000 Interstate Highway Bridge, Oregon and Washington |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=E8I9AQAAMAAJ |journal=Engineering & Contracting |location=[[Chicago]] |publisher=Myron C. Clark Publishing Co. |volume=XLII |issue=7 |page=36 |access-date=June 6, 2021 |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref> Construction on the bridge began in March 1915,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Holstine |first=Craig E. |title=Spanning Washington: Historic Highway Bridges of the Evergreen State |publisher=Washington State University Press |pages=103–104 |year=2005 |isbn=0-87422-281-8}}</ref> and the structure opened on February 14,&nbsp;1917 at a final cost of $1.75&nbsp;million (equivalent to ${{Inflation|US|1.75|1917|r=0}}&nbsp;million in {{Inflation-year|US}}{{Inflation-fn|US}}), which was shared between [[Clark County, Washington|Clark]] and [[Multnomah County, Oregon|Multnomah]] counties.<ref name="wood-2001">{{Cite book |last=Wood |first=Sharon |title=The Portland Bridge Book |edition=2nd |publisher=[[Oregon Historical Society]] |date=2001 |pages=73–78 |isbn=0-87595-211-9}}</ref> Clark County paid $500,000 and Multnomah County paid $1.25 million—probably proportional to population.<ref name="Horner">Horner, John B. (1919). "Oregon: Her History, Her Great Men, Her Literature". The J.K. Gill Co.: Portland.</ref>

The first bridge has a total of 13 steel spans, with three measuring {{convert|275|ft|m|abbr=out}} in length and the remaining ten spans {{convert|265|ft|m|abbr=on}} each.<ref name=Horner/> [[Pier (architecture)|Piers]] sit atop [[pile cap]]s on wooden [[Deep foundation|pilings]] approximately 70 feet deep.<ref>{{cite web
 | title =Seismic Vulnerability
 | work =Project Information
 | publisher =[[Columbia River Crossing]]
 | url =https://www.columbiarivercrossing.org/ProjectInformation/ResearchAndResults/SeismicVulnerability.aspx
 | access-date =March 19, 2013
 | archive-date =January 29, 2013
 | archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20130129085606/https://www.columbiarivercrossing.org/ProjectInformation/ResearchAndResults/SeismicVulnerability.aspx
 | url-status =dead
 }}</ref> One of the {{convert|275|ft|m|adj=on}} spans is the lift span for allowing river traffic under the bridge.<ref name=Horner/> The lift span is capable of moving {{convert|136|ft|m|abbr=on}} vertically,<ref name=bottenberg>{{cite book | last= Bottenberg | first= Ray | title = Bridges of Portland | publisher = [[Arcadia Publishing]] | year = 2007 | pages = 78, 80| isbn= 978-0-7385-4876-0 }}</ref> and provides {{convert|176|ft|m|1|abbr=on}} of clearance below when fully raised.<ref name = "Wood-Wortman"/> The towers are
{{convert|190|ft|m|1|abbr=on}} tall, above the roadway.<ref name=bottenberg/>

The original paved roadway was {{convert|38|ft|m|1|abbr=on}} wide and had a {{convert|5|ft|m|2|abbr=on}} wide sidewalk.<ref name=Horner/> It was the first automobile bridge across the river between Washington and Oregon,<ref name=Horner/> and the second to span the river at all, after the [[Columbia River Bridge (Wenatchee, Washington)|Wenatchee Bridge]] of 1908.<ref name=Dorpat>{{cite book |last= Dorpat |first= Paul |author2=Genevieve McCoy |title= Building Washington: A History of Washington State Public Works |year= 1998 |publisher= Tartu Publications |isbn= 0-9614357-9-8 |pages= 111–112}}</ref> It was originally a toll bridge costing 5¢ per vehicle or per horse and rider,<ref name=bottenberg/> equivalent to ${{Inflation|US|0.05|1917|r=2}} in {{Inflation-year|US}}. In 1928 the states of Washington and Oregon jointly purchased the bridge from the counties and discontinued tolling the following year.<ref name = "Wood-Wortman"/> The [[Oregon Department of Transportation]] became the lead agency responsible for the maintenance and operations of the structure.<ref>{{cite journal |date=August 20, 2009 |title=Asset Management: Bridge Assessment Annual Report |page=19 |url=https://wsdot.wa.gov/eesc/bridge/preservation/GrayNotebookJun09-Bridges.pdf |journal=The Gray Notebook |issue=34 |publisher=[[Washington State Department of Transportation]] |accessdate=December 26, 2023 |archive-date=December 26, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231226201114/https://wsdot.wa.gov/eesc/bridge/preservation/GrayNotebookJun09-Bridges.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref>

Electric [[streetcar]]s operated across the bridge from opening day in 1917<ref name="formally opened">[https://oregonnews.uoregon.edu/lccn/sn83025138/1917-02-15/ed-1/seq-1/ "Columbia Span Is Formally Opened: Dream of Half Century Is Realized (subheadlines: Traffic Starts With Brilliant Ceremony on Bridge; Thousands Attend Affair)"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230608202611/https://oregonnews.uoregon.edu/lccn/sn83025138/1917-02-15/ed-1/seq-1/ |date=June 8, 2023 }}. (February 15, 1917). ''[[The Oregonian|The Morning Oregonian]]'', p. 1.</ref> until 1940. The bridge's deck carried [[dual gauge]] track,<ref name=bottenberg/> to accommodate both Vancouver's [[standard gauge]] cars and Portland's {{RailGauge|3ft6in|lk=on}} gauge cars. Before the bridge, Portland had had a Vancouver streetcar line since 1893, but it ran to [[Hayden Island, Portland, Oregon|Hayden Island]], where passengers transferred to a ferry owned by the street railway company to continue across the river to Vancouver.<ref name="thompson2010">Thompson, Richard (2010). ''Portland's Streetcar Lines'', pp. 72–73, 77. [[Arcadia Publishing]]. {{ISBN|978-0-7385-8126-2}}.</ref> Streetcar service across the Interstate Bridge ended on September 3,&nbsp;1940.<ref name="thompson2010"/>

The bridge became part of then-new [[Interstate 5]] in 1957.<ref name = "Wood-Wortman"/> It was previously part of [[U.S. Route 99]] when that route was established in 1926.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Pesanti |first1=Dameon |title=Interstate Bridge turns 100: 'With Iron Bands,' a century spanned |url=https://www.columbian.com/news/2017/feb/12/interstate-bridge-turns-100-with-iron-bands-a-century-spanned/ |url-access=subscription |access-date=May 7, 2021 |work=[[The Columbian]] |date=February 12, 2017 |archive-date=May 7, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210507191908/https://www.columbian.com/news/2017/feb/12/interstate-bridge-turns-100-with-iron-bands-a-century-spanned/ |url-status=live }}</ref>