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24-730: The Wapato Bridge , formerly known as the Sauvie Island Bridge , crosses the Multnomah Channel of the Willamette River near Portland, Oregon , United States . The original Parker truss bridge, built in 1950 with a 200-foot (61 m) main span, was replaced with a tied arch bridge with a 360-foot (110 m) span in 2008 due to cracks discovered in 2001. In November 2022, the Multnomah County Board of Commissioners voted to rename

48-761: A bicycle/pedestrian bridge over Interstate 405 in downtown Portland , as part of the Burnside/Couch Transportation and Urban Design Plan. A coalition of Portland community groups including the Pearl District Neighborhood Association and the Bicycle Transportation Alliance supported the idea. Adams ultimately retracted the proposal, realizing the cost would likely be more than the $ 5.5 million he had originally stated. The $ 43 million new bridge opened June 23, 2008. The old bridge

72-611: A named geographic feature in the state, and gives the drainage basin area, mouth coordinates, and river mile, specifically the distance from the mouth of the tributary to the mouth of its parent stream. Some islands are named for their river mile distance, for example the Allegheny River in Pennsylvania has Six Mile Island, Nine Mile Island, Twelve Mile Island, and Fourteen Mile Island. (The last two islands form Allegheny Islands State Park , although Fourteen Mile Island

96-533: Is just the name of the river and the location in river miles. In cases where there is ambiguity, for example when more than one stream has the same name, it uses a series of river mile strings referring to the distance to the ocean along either the Ohio River (and Mississippi River ) or through Lake Erie (and the Saint Lawrence Seaway ). Another example of a River Mile System is utilized by

120-473: Is not the same as the length of the river, rather it is a means of locating any feature along the river relative to its distance from the mouth, when measured along the course (or navigable channel) of the river. River mile zero may not be exactly at the mouth. For example, the Willamette River (which discharges into the Columbia River ) has its river mile zero at the edge of the navigable channel in

144-580: Is the Sauvie Island Public Boat Ramp at RM 18 (RK 29), followed by Hadley's Landing and its tie-up and trail 0.5 miles (0.80 km) later. The Sauvie Island Wildlife Area begins at about the halfway point on the channel and extends from there to the mouth along the right bank. A major stopover for birds, it can be reached by boat from the Gilbert River Boat Ramp at RM 6 (RK 10). Parks near

168-467: The Chinook people living on Sauvie Island in the early 19th century called themselves. Several Chinook villages with longhouses occupied sites along the channel before the explorers' arrival. Sauvie Island and its mild climate were suited to wapato , a root vegetable, and provided access to fish and game. A large village, one of several on the island, was situated near its southeastern tip, where

192-505: The 1950 span in 2001, Multnomah County restricted weight and speed on the bridge. Early designs for a new bridge were submitted in July 2004, and groundbreaking was held on January 4, 2006. The new $ 38 million span was designed by H2L2 Architecture with David Evans & Associates as the design engineers, and built by Max J. Kuney Company. Located at river mile three, the main span is 360 feet (110 m) long and rests 80 feet (24 m) above

216-563: The Columbia River in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Flanked in the 21st century by moorages, marinas, and parks, and populated by a wide variety of fish, the channel offers many opportunities for recreation. Constrained by dikes , the channel is about one-third as wide as the lower Willamette main stem. U.S. Route 30 and tracks of the Burlington Northern Railroad run roughly parallel to

240-774: The Columbia, some 900 feet (270 m) beyond the mouth. Also, the river mile zero for the Lower Mississippi River is located at Head of Passes , where the main stem of the Mississippi splits into three major branches before flowing into the Gulf of Mexico . Mileages are indicated as AHP (Above Head of Passes) or BHP (Below Head of Passes). River miles are used in a variety of ways. The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania , in its 2001 Pennsylvania Gazetteer of Streams , lists every named stream and every unnamed stream in

264-652: The Multnomah Channel as well as the main stem. River mile A river mile is a measure of distance in miles along a river from its mouth . River mile numbers begin at zero and increase further upstream. The corresponding metric unit using kilometers is the river kilometer . They are analogous to vehicle roadway mile markers , except that river miles are rarely marked on the physical river; instead they are marked on navigation charts, and topographic maps. Riverfront properties are sometimes partially legally described by their river mile. The river mile

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288-665: The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, in New Mexico, on the Rio Grande. The river miles in Central New Mexico are measured from Caballo Dam upstream to near Embudo , New Mexico. For example, a river mile sign in the Albuquerque Bosque (part of Albuquerque's Open Space Park) is River Mile 184, approximately 184 miles above Caballo Dam . As mentioned earlier in this system the further you go up stream the higher

312-868: The bridge in honor of the Native Americans who originally lived on Sauvie Island . Subsequently, Wapato Bridge was chosen as the new name, and the change went into effect in November 2023. Opened on December 30, 1950, the first bridge to Sauvie Island replaced the Sauvie Island Ferry. The $ 900,000 bridge, equivalent to $ 11.4 million today, was designed by the Oregon Department of Transportation and built by Gilpin Construction. Oregon transferred ownership to Multnomah County in 1951. Composed of three steel truss spans, it

336-475: The channel begins. Another village, with 28 houses and more than 1,000 residents, was sited along the west shore of Scappoose Bay near the downstream end of the channel. The channel offers many moorages for boats and houseboats . Private moorages and marinas, some with public fee-for-service boat ramps, lie along the channel between the main stem and the Sauvie Island Bridge. Further downriver

360-496: The channel, and to its left , between its source and the Multnomah–;Columbia county border at about the channel's river mile (RM) 12.5 or river kilometer (RK) 20.1. In its first 0.5 miles (0.80 km), the channel receives Miller Creek from the left, then passes under Wapato Bridge , which carries Northwest Sauvie Island Road. Below the bridge, Ennis Creek enters from the left, then McCarthy Creek from

384-555: The channel. The channel had a variety of names before the United States Board on Geographic Names (USBGN) agreed to Multnomah Channel in 1913. In 1792, William Robert Broughton was the first European explorer to discover the channel. He named it Calls River , probably after the English engineer Sir John Call . The early 19th century explorers Lewis and Clark called it Wappato Inlet after Wappato Island ,

408-465: The left at RM 18 (RK 29). Further along, Johns Creek enters from the left, and then Joy Creek enters from the left where the channel leaves Multnomah County and enters Columbia County. About 8 miles (13 km) from the mouth, the channel flows around Coon Island. Shortly thereafter, Crane Slough, which drains Crane's Lake, and the Gilbert River , which drains Sturgeon Lake , enter from

432-601: The mouth include Nob Hill Nature Park and Sand Island Marine Park at St. Helens, St. Helens Landing, Columbia View Park at Scappoose Bay, and Scappoose Bay Landing. A productive fishery for spring Chinook salmon , the channel is also home to sturgeon , walleye , shad , brown bullhead catfish , and other small fish, and crayfish . The average Chinook entering the channel weighs 18 pounds (8.2 kg), but some weigh as much as 40 pounds (18 kg). Oregon's lower-Willamette health advisories on consumption of resident (non-migratory) fish, especially large bottom feeders, apply to

456-514: The name they used for Sauvie Island. In the 1840s, nautical surveyor Charles Wilkes referred to the channel as Warrior Branch because it met the Columbia River at Warrior Point, on the northern tip of Sauvie Island. Before its renaming by the USBGN, the channel had become known as Willamette Slough . Multnomah , used by Lewis and Clark to refer to the main stem of the Willamette, is what

480-488: The right. Then the channel receives Jackson Creek from the left and Cunningham Slough from the right before flowing around Louse Island and merging with Scappoose Bay , which is on the left. St. Helens is on the left as the channel enters the Columbia, about 86.5 miles (139.2 km) from the larger stream's mouth on the Pacific Ocean. A few islands, most notably Coon Island and Louse Island , are located within

504-486: The water. The main span is of a tied arch design constructed of steel, while the approach spans are a box-girder style using pre-stressed concrete. The bridge has two lanes of traffic with shoulders and sidewalks on both sides for a total width of 66 feet. The bridge was floated into place after it was constructed. In March 2006, then- city commissioner Sam Adams proposed reusing the Sauvie Island bridge span as

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528-446: Was a total of 1,198 feet (365 m) long, with the main span measuring 200 feet (61 m) in length. The approach spans were built of reinforced concrete girders. Green in color, the bridge was 41 feet (12 m) wide and carried two lanes of traffic and had sidewalks on both sides. The main span, a Parker truss , sat 80 feet (24 m) above the water line and handled an average of 3,800 vehicles per day. After cracks were found in

552-543: Was removed in August 2008 and was scrapped at Schnitzer Steel Industries . In November 2023, following a vote by the county's board of commissioners a year earlier, the Sauvie Island Bridge was renamed Wapato Bridge , in honor of the Native Americans who originally lived on the island. Multnomah Channel Chinook people , the Multnomahs , lived in villages along the channel at the time of European exploration of

576-538: Was split into two parts by a dam). The state of Ohio uses the "River Mile System of Ohio", which is "a method to reference locations on streams and rivers of Ohio". This work began by hand measurements on paper maps between 1972 and 1975 and has since been converted to a computer-based electronic version, which now covers the state in 787 river mile maps. Locations of facilities such as wastewater treatment plants and water quality measurement sites are referenced via river miles. Ohio uses one of two systems. The simplest

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