Union Avenue Viaduct, Spanning between Southeast Harrison & Southeast Ivon Streets on Union Avenue (Old Highway 99 East), Portland, Multnomah County, OR
Summary
Significance: Completed in 1937, the Union Avenue Viaduct is the longest continuous concrete slab/beam/girder-type structure in the state of Oregon. The original structure was built in 1936-37 and refined with a subordinate couplet addition finished in 1965. The original portion of the viaduct, 1,639 feet long, 60'-6" wide and 881 linear feet of filled roadway approaches between concrete retaining walls, is essentially intact and dominates the smaller and less classically detailed 1,008-foot Grand Avenue couplet. Original luminaries, stairwells and railings remain on the 1937 structure, as does the sidewalk on the west exposure. A prominent decorative feature of the viaduct is its precast concrete Tudor drop arch railing. The viaduct effectively facilitated traffic along Union Avenue, the longest north-south connector in the city of Portland. Motorists experienced substantially improved access to and from the city's Willamette River bridges and the Interstate Bridge on the Columbia. Beyond Portland the structure at one proved an indispensable link in the newly designated eastside Highway 99E connection between Portland and its suburbs. Constructed in the vicinity of an existing railroad and streetcar transportation corridor, the viaduct provided an efficient connection between the commercial area of Union Avenue to the north and the semi-industrial area to the south by eliminating at-grade crossings.
Survey number: HAER OR-132
Building/structure dates: 1936-1937 Initial Construction
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