The History of the Sellwood Bridge

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To the relief of many, in February 2016 the now 90-year old Sellwood Bridge crossing the Willamette River towards the southern end of Portland, Oregon was finally closed after a new bridge was constructed. The narrow, structurally questionable original bridge had been a cause of fear for many of those who still willingly traveled it, often out of convenience. But it wasn't just in the bridge's final years that it was a cause for concern for those who used it. In fact, some said upon completion back in 1925, it was already obsolete.
This video follows the history of the struggles this first bridge faced from the very beginning from it's efforts to be built, through the scandal that could have ended up, and on to the many trials and tribulations it faced after it was built and opened up to the public. Perhaps its greatest problem was that it was built with the mindset that it would mostly be used by locals and that it would function mostly as a local connector bridge. It was not built to handle becoming one of the most traveled bridges in the state of Oregon... which is what it would become.