in Portland designed with input from an architect. This led to the Italian Renaissance towers and decorative metal railings. The bascule system was designed by Joseph Strauss. The initial principal engineer for the bridge construction was the firm of Hedrick & Kremers. The bridge was then completed by Gustav Lindenthal, who also supervised its construction. Streetcars crossed the Burnside Bridge until 1950, and electric trolleybuses serving the Sandy Blvd. route did so from 1936 to 1958. Currently, three TriMet bus routes use the bridge. In the 1990s the Burnside Bridge was made a Regional Emergency Transportation Route, the one non-freeway bridge to be used by emergency vehicles. In 1995 one of the six lanes was removed to accommodate new bicycle lanes. From March until November 2002 the bridge went through a $2.1 million seismic retrofit, making it the first bridge operated by Multnomah County to receive earthquake protection. The bridge was under construction in 2006 in order to replace the deck. The electric streetcar tracks, abandoned in 1950, were visible during the construction. This project was budgeted at $9 million and the majority of the work was completed on December 9, 2007. The bridge was added to the National Register of Historic Places in November 2012. The Eastbank Esplanade, which opened in 2001, is connected to the bridge by stairs added during the esplanade's construction. However, because of the bridge's age, it cannot support any extra weight, so the stairways must be supported by separate pilings. In 2020, the Earthquake Ready Burnside Bridge project deemed that the current short span bridge would not survive a major earthquake, and recommended a replacement long span bridge. The replacement is estimated to cost $825 million and begin construction in 2025. In popular culture Indie rock band the Mountain Goats prominently mention the Burnside Bridge in the lyrics of their 2012 song "Steal Smoked Fish". See also Joseph Strauss (engineer) List of bascule bridges List of bridges documented by the Historic American Engineering Record in Oregon List of bridges on the National Register of Historic Places in Oregon List of crossings of the Willamette River References External links Burnside Bridge page on Multnomah County website 1926 establishments in Oregon Bascule bridges in the United States Bridges by Joseph Strauss (engineer) Bridges completed in 1894 Bridges completed in 1926 Bridges in Portland, Oregon Road bridges on the National Register of Historic Places in Oregon Bridges