To better serve the pedestrian and biking community of Portland while connecting two emerging areas of the city, the Blumenauer Bridge (previously called Sullivan’s Crossing) has been in development for the last few years. In October of 2021, Omega Morgan’s Portland team provided essential heavy equipment transport, rigging, and heavy lift services to successfully install the bridge. 

SPECIALIZED TRANSPORT ENGINEERING 

Omega Morgan’s engineering teams worked with partner engineering firms for over ten months to solve the variety of challenges presented by this project. Chief among them was the bridge’s inability to support itself at the designed rigging locations and the uneven, uphill path the equipment would take to install the bridge. Another hurdle came when the bridge’s estimated weight was off by over 13,000 pounds. With over eight iterations and 885 hours of engineering, Omega Morgan’s heavy lift and rigging team developed a world-class solution to overcome these challenges with support from the contractor and a structural engineering firm.  

WE DO THE HEAVY RIGGING

The Blumenauer Bridge crosses the I-84–an important commuter highway into Portland–and would require the highway to shut down entirely for construction. This provided a strict time frame for the installation as the highway could only be closed over the weekend. With 55 hours for shutdown, installation, and repair, our two 10-person rigging crews plus three crane crews worked around the clock and completed the installation ahead of schedule. Our client was pleased with Omega Morgan’s safe and efficient work and our ability to overcome the challenges presented.

Read more details about this crucial infrastructure project in our new case study.