reservations & bookings
INCLUDING: SCHEDULE A TOUR / SIGN UP FOR A TOUR / RATES / ROUTES & CONTENT / TRANSPORTATION ARRANGEMENTS
SCHEDULING A TOUR FOR AN INDIVIDUAL OR SMALL GROUP
WE OFFER OCCASIONAL BRIDGE TOURS THAT INDIVIDUALS AND THEIR GUESTS MAY SIGN UP TO ATTEND! CLICK HERE FOR DETAILS AND RATES
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Whether you're a lifelong Portland resident or visiting for the first time, chances are you'll see and learn something new on these all-ages excursions. Visit our calendar for a listing of upcoming tour dates, or join our mailing list and follow us on social media to receive announcements about upcoming tours.
For those joining one of our pre-scheduled public tours, the tour rate is per-person: $30 for adults and $20 for youth 12 and under.
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Props to blogger Portdaddia for creating and sharing this video of a bridge tour moment! |
If a public tour isn't already scheduled on a date you'd like to attend, we encourage you to reach out to us as we may still be able to accommodate your small group. Please send an email to let us know when you'd like to tour with us, providing a minimum of one week's notice prior to your preferred tour date. We may be able to pull you into another, larger touring party should you prefer, or, private tour groups of one to five people may schedule a tour for the flat fee of $150. Private tours for small groups over five people and up to ten people will be accommodated at the per-person charge of $30/adult and $20/youth. Groups over ten people would qualify for large group rates, described below.
SCHEDULING LARGE GROUPS
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BOOK A BRIDGE TOUR FOR YOUR LARGE GROUP OF OVER TEN PEOPLE AND UP TO SIXTY PEOPLE! RATES VARY DEPENDING ON WHICH MONTH YOUR TOUR IS SCHEDULED TO TAKE PLACE. ALL RATES COVER A FULL SCHOOL DAY (OR SEVERAL HOURS) OF TOURING BRIDGES. FOR GROUPS OF TEN OR FEWER, SEE OUR TOURING INFO FOR SMALL GROUPS RIGHT ABOVE THIS SECTION!
SCHOOLS AND OTHER ORGANIZATIONS MAY EMAIL [email protected] TO RESERVE ONE OR MORE TOUR DAYS.
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SCHOOLS DESIGNATED AS TITLE I QUALIFY FOR A REDUCED RATE.
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click here to VIEW A CALENDAR OF AVAILABLE TOUR DATES
Click on a specific month to zoom in. Dates highlighted in yellow are still available, and will be filled on a first come, first served basis.
ACADEMIC YEAR 2024-2025
ACADEMIC YEAR 2025-2026
COMING SOON!
COMING SOON!
ROUTES and CONTENT
click here FOr a few words about the route
AS EXPLAINED BY TOUR GUIDE NATHAN HOOVER....
With every one of my groups, I want to deepen our understanding of-- and our experience of-- something we might see every day, but take for granted. I am fortunate to be one of only two tour guides in the U.S. with a permit that allows me to take groups into either the Burnside Bridge or the Morrison Bridge towers to meet a bridge operator and discover what it takes to open a movable bridge. I remember the first time I climbed down into the piers of the Morrison Bridge and saw the 36-foot-tall gears and the (back then) 950-ton concrete counterweight. The 'whoa's' I hear from my groups as we go behind the scenes to these (and other) extraordinary spaces remind me how profound and life-enriching a bridge tour can be.
Along the way my groups grow familiar with a basic bridge vocabulary that includes the three basic structural types and three basic movable types, all of which may be found in Portland. We discuss how to go about counting bridges. We seek out the components of a movable bridge including counterweights, cables, and trunnions. We compare and contrast truss patterns. We get right up next to rivets. We name the different types of live load our bridges are expected to withstand. And we consider the specifics that make Portland's bridges unique in the country, or in some cases, one-of-a-kind in the whole world.
It's important to me that my groups have fun as we learn. Time permitting, we sometimes visit the Oregon Department of Transportation Region 1 'Willamette River Bridges' exhibit and the Traffic Management and Operations Center. We may also test a bridge for synchronous vertical excitation, cross the longest indoor suspension bridge in the U.S., ride the Portland Aerial Tram in order to see 'from arch bridge to arch bridge', listen to the song of a singing bridge, and/or imagine a Portland before there were any bridges at all. No two walks are the same, and there is more to do to explore bridges in Portland than would fit into a single day. Tours can be arranged for any length of time, but I encourage groups to allow as much of the day as possible for the experience.
By the end of the tour, my hope is that everyone in the group has had an adventure that they'll be excited to talk about not just over dinner that night, but for years and years to come.
With every one of my groups, I want to deepen our understanding of-- and our experience of-- something we might see every day, but take for granted. I am fortunate to be one of only two tour guides in the U.S. with a permit that allows me to take groups into either the Burnside Bridge or the Morrison Bridge towers to meet a bridge operator and discover what it takes to open a movable bridge. I remember the first time I climbed down into the piers of the Morrison Bridge and saw the 36-foot-tall gears and the (back then) 950-ton concrete counterweight. The 'whoa's' I hear from my groups as we go behind the scenes to these (and other) extraordinary spaces remind me how profound and life-enriching a bridge tour can be.
Along the way my groups grow familiar with a basic bridge vocabulary that includes the three basic structural types and three basic movable types, all of which may be found in Portland. We discuss how to go about counting bridges. We seek out the components of a movable bridge including counterweights, cables, and trunnions. We compare and contrast truss patterns. We get right up next to rivets. We name the different types of live load our bridges are expected to withstand. And we consider the specifics that make Portland's bridges unique in the country, or in some cases, one-of-a-kind in the whole world.
It's important to me that my groups have fun as we learn. Time permitting, we sometimes visit the Oregon Department of Transportation Region 1 'Willamette River Bridges' exhibit and the Traffic Management and Operations Center. We may also test a bridge for synchronous vertical excitation, cross the longest indoor suspension bridge in the U.S., ride the Portland Aerial Tram in order to see 'from arch bridge to arch bridge', listen to the song of a singing bridge, and/or imagine a Portland before there were any bridges at all. No two walks are the same, and there is more to do to explore bridges in Portland than would fit into a single day. Tours can be arranged for any length of time, but I encourage groups to allow as much of the day as possible for the experience.
By the end of the tour, my hope is that everyone in the group has had an adventure that they'll be excited to talk about not just over dinner that night, but for years and years to come.
click here for help with transportation plans for your group
COMING SOON. IN THE MEANTIME, PLEASE EMAIL [email protected] FOR ASSISTANCE MAKING TRANSPORTATION PLANS.
AND, PLEASE VISIT OUR FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS PAGE, WHERE YOU'LL FIND MORE DETAILED INFORMATION REGARDING ADA ACCESSIBILITY, WALKING DISTANCE, NUMBER OF BRIDGES IN THE ROUTE, AND MORE.
CUSTOM TOURS
SOME GROUPS ARE LOOKING FOR A SPECIFIC FOCUS FOR THEIR BRIDGE TOUR: COVERED BRIDGES, FOR EXAMPLE, OR RAILWAY INFRASTRUCTURE. YOU NAME THE TOPIC, AND WE WILL CREATE THE BRIDGE TOUR. EMAIL [email protected] TO LET US KNOW WHAT YOU HAVE IN MIND!
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This website designed by Nathan Hoover.
PDX Bridge Tours and all site content, except where otherwise specified, copyright Nathan Hoover © 2023
Click here to learn more about the images on this site.
PDX Bridge Tours and all site content, except where otherwise specified, copyright Nathan Hoover © 2023
Click here to learn more about the images on this site.