Vista Bridge

The ravine the Vista Bridge passes over was carved out by Tanner Creek and is referred to as the Tanner Creek Canyon (the source of the name for Canyon Road), which was called "The Great Plank Road". Tanner Creek was diverted underground beginning in the 1870s with work completed in the early 1900s. The creek still runs underground beneath the Vista Bridge, although it now drains the surrounding hillside via storm drains and a culvert to the Willamette River.

The bridge has four pedestrian balconies, or "refuge bays"{{cite web|url={{NRHP url|id=84003093}} |format=PDF|title=National Register of Historic Places Inventory–Nomination Form: Vista Avenue Viaduct |author=Cramer, Hulse and Associates |date=September 1, 1983|publisher=National Park Service|access-date=February 25, 2016}} (extensions outward from the sidewalk), holding concrete benches, two on each side.Norman, James B. (1991). Portland's Architectural Heritage: National Register Properties of the Portland Metropolitan Area. Portland, Or: Oregon Historical Society Press. p. 136. The {{convert|248|ft|m|adj=mid|-long}} structure was designed by architect Fred T. Fowler. It is of a rib-reinforced concrete deck arch design. Completed in 1926, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places, as the Vista Avenue Viaduct, on April 26, 1984.{{cite web|title=Oregon National Register List|publisher=Oregon Parks and Recreation Department|url=http://www.oregon.gov/OPRD/HCD/NATREG/docs/oregon_nr_list.pdf|page=41|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180425031913/https://www.oregon.gov/OPRD/HCD/NATREG/docs/oregon_nr_list.pdf|archive-date=April 25, 2018|url-status=dead|date=June 6, 2011|access-date=August 7, 2023}}

The Ford Street Bridge,Prince, Tracy J. (2011). Portland's Goose Hollow. Charleston, South Carolina: Arcadia Publishing. {{ISBN|978-0-7385-7472-1}}. a previous bridge on this site, was built in 1903 as part of a streetcar route to Council Crest, the highest point in Portland at 1,070 feet.{{cite web | title = Council Crest Park | publisher = City of Portland Parks and Recreation Department | url = http://www.portlandonline.com/parks/finder/index.cfm?PropertyID=24&action=ViewPark | access-date = 2009-03-11}}{{cite book | author = Laura O. Foster | title = Portland Hill Walks: Twenty Explorations in Parks and Neighborhoods | publisher = Timber Press | year = 2005 | isbn = 978-0-88192-692-7 | url = https://archive.org/details/portlandhillwalk0000fost | access-date = 2007-02-15 | url-access = registration }} Council Crest was the site of the "Big Tree Observatory" (built for the 1905 Lewis & Clark Exposition) and a popular amusement park and dance hall that operated from 1907 to 1929.{{cite web | title = Council Crest Dreamland of the Northwest | publisher = pdxhistory.com | url = http://www.pdxhistory.com/html/council_crest.html | access-date = 2009-03-11}} Streetcars crossed the current bridge until 1950, when service on the Council Crest line (and the only other two then-remaining urban streetcar lines) was abandoned,Thompson, Richard (2006). Portland's Streetcars, p. 113. Arcadia Publishing. {{ISBN|0-7385-3115-4}}. but the disused tracks remained in place on the bridge for another four decades, until a renovation of the bridge deck.

In 1991, several bungee jumps were filmed here for an Oregon Lottery advertisement.{{cite web | author = Tom Hallman Jr.| title = Stunt jump off bridge lures critics | publisher = Bungee.com quoting The Oregonian | date = April 4, 1991 | url = http://www.bungee.com/bzapp/press/oreg2.html | access-date = 2007-02-15}} Opening scenes for the 2004 film What the Bleep Do We Know!? were filmed in Goose Hollow and included views of the Vista Bridge and the Goose Hollow/SW Jefferson St MAX station.{{cite web | author = Tracy J. Prince, Ph.D.| title = Goose Hollow in "What the Bleep Do We Know?" | publisher = Facebook user Portland's Goose Hollow|url=http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=350522218352321&set=a.350522115018998.80349.134913369913208&type=3&permPage=1

}} In 2010, the title shot for Portlandia was photographed from the Vista Bridge.{{cite web | author = Tracy J. Prince, Ph.D.| title = Cool fact: The title shot for Portlandia was taken from Goose Hollow's 1926 Vista Bridge, looking east toward downtown. | publisher =Facebook user Portland's Goose Hollow| url = http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=304201212984422&set=a.134923679912177.28858.134913369913208&type=3&theater| access-date = 2012-06-07}}

The bridge has been a popular place for jumpers, with the first incident possibly occurring five years after its 1926 opening, earning it the nickname "Suicide Bridge". From 2004 through 2011, 13 people died by suicide by jumping.{{cite news|last=Stabler|first=David|title=Vista Bridge: Is it time to stop the dying at Portland's iconic bridge?|url=http://www.oregonlive.com/living/index.ssf/2013/02/post_37.html|access-date=September 22, 2013|newspaper=The Oregonian|date=February 2, 2013}} In July 2013, following three fatal jumps in six months, Portland City Commissioner Steve Novick approved an emergency request by the Portland Transportation Bureau to erect temporary suicide barriers.{{cite news|last=Stabler|first=David|title=Temporary suicide barriers to go up on Vista Bridge|url=http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2013/07/temporary_suicide_barriers_to.html|access-date=July 10, 2013|newspaper=The Oregonian|date=July 9, 2013}} Because of its status on the National Register of Historic Places the bridge's barrier had to be approved by the Preservation Society under the National Historic Preservation Act and by the State Historic Preservation Office and any federal and state agencies that provide funding. Following the erection of a suicide barrier in the fall of 2013, as a result of protest on the behalf of local residents, a would-be jumper managed to get around the barrier but was talked down by police;{{cite news|last=Kavanaugh|first=Shane Dixon|title=Would-be jumper on Vista Bridge taken to hospital after 12 hours on span|url=http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2013/10/would-be_jumper_on_vista_bridg.html|access-date=January 3, 2014|newspaper=The Oregonian|date=October 30, 2013}} in January 2014, a 14-year-old boy shot and killed himself on the bridge, tumbling onto the adjacent embankment.{{cite news|last=Tomlinson|first=Stuart|title=Vista Bridge suicide is 14-year-old Aloha High School student|url=http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2014/01/vista_bridge_suicide_is_14-yea.html|access-date=January 3, 2014|newspaper=The Oregonian|date=January 3, 2014}}

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• List of bridges on the National Register of Historic Places in Oregon
• Viaduct

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• [http://www.portlandonline.com/auditor/index.cfm?c=27928&a=23933 Photo of 1922 proposal for Vista Bridge]

{{Bridges of Portland, Oregon}}

{{Goose Hollow, Portland, Oregon}}

{{National Register of Historic Places Oregon}}

Category:1926 establishments in Oregon

Category:Bridges completed in 1926

Category:Bridges in Portland, Oregon

Category:Concrete bridges in the United States

Category:Goose Hollow, Portland, Oregon

Category:National Register of Historic Places in Portland, Oregon

Category:Open-spandrel deck arch bridges in the United States

Category:Portland Historic Landmarks

Category:Road bridges on the National Register of Historic Places in Oregon