Nearly three years of renovation and repair work to the Burnside Bridge is finally reaching completion.

The bridge will be closed to all users this weekend, from 11 p.m. Friday, Nov. 1 through 5 a.m. Monday, Nov. 4, to allow crews to remove traffic barricades and apply striping for a new traffic layout intended to hasten bus transit and increase pedestrian and bicyclist safety.

The new layout includes a transit-only eastbound lane and a two-foot buffer zone between bicycle and traffic lanes. White candlestick delineators will be installed in coming weeks to provide distinction between bicycle and motor vehicle lanes.

Construction on the approximately $19 million Burnside Bridge Maintenance Project began in early 2017 and included repairs to the road surface, sidewalks, railings, bridge structure, and mechanical and electrical systems that operate the drawbridge portion of the structure.

In coming months, contractor Hamilton Construction will also install protective fencing along the east edge of the bridge above Interstate 5.聽That work will not require lane closures.

The three-year project was carried out in order to extend the service life of the nearly century-old bridge before it undergoes either a major rehabilitation or total replacement in order to remain operable following a Cascadia Subduction Zone earthquake.

The Earthquake Ready Burnside Bridge project is now about to enter the federal environmental impact statement phase, and Multnomah County Commissioners will work on identifying three potential final bridge configurations at a Nov. 14 meeting.

Those choices were whittled down from nearly 100 original alternatives. The build options include an enhanced seismic retrofit of the existing bridge; an in-kind replacement of the bridge with a new movable bridge; and lastly, a movable bridge that also adds a new connection to Northeast Couch Street.

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The Burnside Bridge is gaining some much-needed upkeep, but even its overseer, Multnomah County, knows it’s only a stopgap.

The steel-and-concrete bridge, a vital connection between downtown Portland and the Central Eastside, is 93 years old. Crews are performing extensive concrete patches and repairs, removing rust and refinishing hundreds of structural steel beams. Also, sidewalks and ornamental guardrails are being refurbished.

鈥淭丑别 Burnside Bridge maintenance project is really sort of a Band-Aid project to get another 10 to 15 years out of the bridge,鈥� county public information officer Mike Pullen said. 鈥淢ultnomah County is considering doing a much bigger project to make the bridge earthquake-ready, and that could even involve replacing the bridge, so the work we’re doing in this three-year project involves concrete repairs, some repainting and a little bit of minor electrical work.鈥�

The project derived from the county’s 2015 Willamette River Bridges Capital Improvement Plan, which identified the Burnside Bridge’s structural and movable components needing major rehabilitation. The county put the bridge at the top of its list of priorities for near-term work, and bidding on the roughly $20 million project took place in early 2017. Springfield-based Hamilton Construction, the project’s general contractor, started work later that spring and is now expected to finish by the end of 2019.

Major issues that are being addressed include rusting steel truss members, cracked concrete, deck surface deterioration and outdated mechanical and electrical systems.

Crews began on the Willamette River’s west side, tackling concrete repairs and other work. West approach girders, bent caps and columns were all rehabilitated, along with steel support trusses.

Meanwhile, the west-side bascule pit and control tower were also renovated, and the span locks and motors also received attention. The west-side control tower, which normally houses the drawbridge operator, was emptied to perform a remodel and address water intrusion. Other issues were addressed in work done by subcontractor Pacificmark Construction.

On the top of the bridge, the deck and expansion joints were renovated, while sidewalks, guardrails and overhangs also were repaired as needed. Many of the issues being addressed were identified when the bridge was most recently resurfaced, Pullen said.

鈥淲hen they did that 10 years ago, they didn’t do anything underneath the bridge, and that’s where a lot of the repairs have been,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t’s the concrete mostly; they had nets underneath the bridge to catch the little bits of concrete that were falling, especially around the Saturday Market. One theme of things like this is that it is really a Band-Aid. If I were to show you other things like the Hawthorne Bridge in the late ’90s, in restoring that bridge they repainted every single thing and did new decks. With this, we didn’t invest too much, and when this side opens in February (the public) will notice improvements, but they’ll also notice these patches.鈥�

Masons with Pioneer Waterproofing apply exterior weather sealant to the concrete girders below the Burnside Bridge’s east end.

One new technology being used by subcontractor Pioneer Waterproofing to carry out concrete repairs involves injecting epoxy adhesive into holes in the concrete and then wrapping those areas with carbon fiber reinforced polymer. The polymer then dries along with the epoxy to create a stronger span than the original.

Other discoveries made during the project indicate that the bridge needs more attention.

鈥淭丑别re were a few things that are bigger scale,鈥� Pullen said. 鈥淭丑别y found a crack in the pier in the river that’s closest to the downtown side on the west side, so this summer we’ll be going in there and dewatering and basically bracing that crack with some steel that goes through the whole thing and tighten it up.鈥�

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Workers have begun the final phase of an effort to improve the 92-year-old Burnside Bridge.

Crews from Hamilton Construction and its subcontractors are repairing the concrete underside of the bridge on the east side of the Willamette River, near Northeast Second Avenue. Work should wrap up in early 2019, Multnomah County spokesman Mike Pullen said.

The section of bridge being repaired sits directly above the popular Burnside Skatepark, which is now closed during work hours 鈥� from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Friday. It will otherwise remain open for use.

The current work is part of the Burnside Bridge Maintenance Project, which is a piece of the county’s 2015 Willamette River Bridges Capital Improvement Plan.

The Burnside Bridge Maintenance Project is intended to make the bridge serviceable for another 15 to聽20 years while a long-term solution is drawn up and carried out. Crews will repair cracked and crumbling concrete, renovate the drawbridge motor and controls, perform electrical upgrades, fix rusting steel framework, repair pavement and sidewalks and overhangs and railings, replace expansion joints, repair cracks in the piers, repair concrete columns and beams and girders, paint steel trusses, and repair internal steel towers connected to the piers.

Hamilton Construction is carrying out the work, which is valued at a total of $18 million to $22 million. As part of the current work, crews will remove and patch damaged concrete and install bands of fiber-reinforced polymer over the concrete to extend structural life.

Then, in late January or early February 2019, the south half of the bridge will reopen to traffic and the north half will close to accommodate repairs. The bridge will continue to provide use of one westbound lane, two eastbound lanes and multiuse paths.

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Two lanes of Portland’s Burnside Bridge will be closed beginning in early January 2018 for the rest of the year as part of the $19 million Burnside Bridge maintenance project.

Also, the bridge will close completely from 11 p.m. on Jan. 5 to 5 a.m. on Jan. 8 to allow Hamilton Construction to set up a work zone on the south side and traffic control on the north side, according to a news release from Multnomah County, which manages the bridge.

When the bridge reopens Jan. 8, one lane in each direction will be open. The speed limit will be reduced to 25 mph, down from 35 mph.

Bicyclists and pedestrians will share paths 7 to 8 feet wide. The south path will be separated from traffic by a barrier, while the north path will use the sidewalk.

The repairs may require full closure of the bridge on several nights in 2018, according to the county.

Hamilton will repair pavement, sidewalks and railings, paint areas below the deck and perform other work.

Separately, the county is working on a seismic resiliency plan for the Burnside Bridge to ensure it can withstand a major earthquake.

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