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Bridge birthdays in 2010

Dec. 15: Sellwood Bridge, 85; Glenn L. Jackson Memorial Bridge, 28

Dec 19: Hawthorne Bridge, 100

Dec. 21: Ross Island Bridge, 84

Dec. 28: Oregon City Bridge, 88

Any child could be annoyed at having a sibling with a nearby birthday – especially when parties are grouped together into one larger celebration where cake and ice cream must be shared.

It might well be the same for bridges around Portland. But instead of sharing cake for their birthdays this month, the Sellwood, Glenn L. Jackson, Hawthorne, Ross Island and Oregon City bridges must share funding – an equally scarce resource often squabbled over.

Local experts don’t know why all five of those bridges opened, or were essentially born, in mid to late December. But some of them have theories.

“We’re pretty sure it’s because it’s an end-of-the-year thing – that the bridges had to be done by the 31st for those folks to get paid,” said Sharon Wood Wortman, author of “The Portland Bridge Book.” “We don’t know, though. And we have no way of proving that.”

Robert Hadlow, senior historian at the Oregon Department of Transportation, also isn’t sure why – although he thinks it might be an odd coincidence.

“That’s really puzzling to me,” Hadlow said. “Usually these things are finished at all different times of the year. But it’s the same with some of the coast’s bridges – they all seem to have summer birthdays. It’s just weird that way.”

There’s absolutely no technical reason why they would all be finished at the same time of year, state bridge engineer Bruce Johnson added.

Most of the spans were built in the same era – the Ross Island, Sellwood and Oregon City bridges were finished in 1926, 1925 and 1922, respectively.

The Hawthorne was built in 1910 – and celebrates its 100th birthday on Sunday. The Glenn L. Jackson Memorial Bridge opened in 1982.

If they had a birthday wish, most bridges would ask for more maintenance funding, Johnson added.

“There’s just a lot that needs to be done to all of them, and the list is growing,” he said. “Most bridges are designed to last 50 years, and yet we know that we have at least an 80-year life for most of our structures.”

In 2004, ODOT got $1.3 billion from the state for maintenance on Oregon’s older bridges. That money has helped, but it didn’t include long-term recurring funding, which will eventually be needed to keep the bridges operational, Johnson said.

“We maybe have 15 to 20 years before we have major restrictions of heavy loads,” Johnson said. “But really it’s sort of like driving a ’54 DeSoto. You can pay to keep it in shape, but eventually the maintenance will cost a lot more than buying a new car.”

The Ross Island Bridge, which turns 84 on Tuesday, is overdue for a paint job, he added. But one is unlikely in the near future because the cost is $32 million.

“We’re struggling with Ross Island; it needs to be painted, but we just don’t have the money,” Johnson said. “There’s rust and corrosion that builds up when you don’t paint, and if that goes too far you have problems. In the meantime all we can do is spot-paint it.”

Other bridges in the area have had problems with steel fatigue, which ODOT has fixed when it has been discovered.

“All that said, the bridges are safe,” Johnson said. “We have some serious problems, but we have really good people taking care of them.”

As part of the bridge birthday celebration, architectural lights on the Morrison Bridge, which opened on May 24, 1958, will flash red, white and green through the rest of the week, said Mike Pullen, a spokesman for Multnomah County.

“It’s kind of sending a salute to its older siblings north and south,” Pullen said, adding that the colors represent the festive winter season.

PDX Bridge Festival, which held a larger party for the Hawthorne Bridge’s 100th birthday this past summer, also is sponsoring a Happy Birthday Hawthorne walking tour at 2 p.m. on Sunday with Bohemian Storytelling Tours. People can purchase tickets at . They cost $15 apiece, but are “buy one, get one free.”

Tucker Teutsch, creative director for the festival, says he has a few theories as to why the bridges were all born in December.

“Maybe it’s just that it gets so dark and gloomy here in winter that the bridges were opened at that time to alleviate commuter stress,” Teutsch said with a laugh.

Waxing more philosophic, he added:

“The bridges provide a sense of time and place. December is an auspicious time for bridges to be born, because it provides a transition from one year to the next, from one era to another.”