Yeah, closed entirely from 9AM Monday for three weeks to make repairs. From the article, here’s the good bit:

The closure will allow a contractor to replace parts of an 81-year-old hinge that attaches a 3.8 million pound concrete counterweight to the lift span. When the weight is lowered, the lift span rises.

The original parts have worn and broken so that the hinge cannot turn freely when the bridge opens for river traffic, said Mike Pullen, a spokesman for Multnomah County, which owns the bridge.

Apparently when we built this bridge it replaced one that had been there for 30 years, so it never occurred to anyone to make this something that was easily repairable so it isn’t; they didn’t expect the replacement for a 30 year old bridge to still be going strong in year 81! This is another phase of the two years of Burnside Bridge rehab that are supposed to end in November of this year.

I have to say, as much as it sucks to have the Burnside Bridge completely closed to cars (not pedestrians or bikes) I’d rather take an alternate route and sit here writing the “Sellwood Bridge is falling down, falling down, falling down” post instead…