Jeff McDonald//January 15, 2014//

The new transit bridge across the Willamette River moved closer to gaining a name Wednesday, and it won’t be the Homer Simpson Bridge of Awesomeness.
That was one of roughly 2,300 names submitted to a selection committee that did not make the final cut.
The four finalists unveiled Wednesday at the Oregon Historical Society in Portland are: Abigail Scott Duniway Transit Bridge; Cascadia Crossing Transit Bridge; Wy’east Transit Bridge and Tillicum Crossing Transit Bridge, Bridge of the People.
Duniway was an Oregon pioneer woman suffragist, Cascadia is a reference to the Cascade Mountains, Wy’east was the original name of Mount Hood, and Tillicum means people, tribe and relatives in Chinook jargon, according to TriMet.
“Each of the four names have become so deeply embedded in our history,” said Chet Orloff, director emeritus of the Oregon Historical Society and chairman of the Bridge Naming Committee. “All of them had to be unanimous by the members of our (10-person) committee.”
The public will be able to comment on the four names before the naming committee chooses either one or two, Orloff said. TriMet will make the final naming decision this spring, he said.
Other names not selected were: Rip City Bridge, Portlandia Bridge, Jean Luc Picard Wonder Crossing and Stephen Colbert Bridge of Destiny, according to a list provided by TriMet.
Comments on the final four names can be made until March 1 at 5 p.m. either online at  or by mail to 1800 S.W. First Avenue, Suite 300, Portland, OR 97201.