14 DAY TRIAL // Christmas won't be here for a few more months, but this is no reason not to keep an eye open for bargains and that one very special gift for that one very special someone. Who knows, this gift might turn out to be an actual, real bridge.
Not to beat about the bush, media reports tell us that authorities in Multnomah County in Oregon, US, are now looking to sell the local Sellwood Bridge, a photo of which is available next to this article.
The bridge is 88 years old and measures about 1,100 feet (approximately 335 meters) in length. It's made of steel, and is said to be the state's one and only architectural wonder of this kind, Oregon Live informs.
“The Sellwood Bridge opened to traffic on December 15, 1925. Designed by the distinguished bridge engineer Gustav Lindenthal, the bridge employs a unique four span continuous truss design that makes it the only bridge of its kind in Oregon.”
“Today, the Sellwood is the busiest two-lane bridge in the state – carrying about 30,000 cars and light trucks a day,” authorities in Multnomah County write in a description for the 88-year-old bridge now looking for a new home.
In case anyone was wondering, Multnomah County is looking to get rid of this bridge because it is now busy building a replacement for it. Should things go according to plan, this second bridge will be completed sometime in 2016.
Due to the fact that the Sellwood Bridge is one of a kind in Oregon, high officials cannot simply ask workers to tear it down. On the contrary, rules and regulations set in place by the country's National Historic Preservation Act say that they must first try to sell it.
Hoping to find at least one person interested in acquiring this bridge, authorities plan to run ads detailing the sale in two local newspapers. Unless somebody contacts them by September 12 and offers to buy the structure, the bridge will be demolished.
Just for the record, it must be said that whoever buys the bridge – provided that anyone ever will, that is – is expected to prove that they are more than capable of properly looking after it and will give it all the love and affection it might ever need or want.
More precisely, the buyer must prove that they have enough money to move the bridge from its current location and where to keep it. Besides, they must see to it that, while relocating the Sellwood Bridge to its news home, they do not cause any damage to the environment.
Truth be told, chances are that nobody will ever offer to buy this architectural wonder, and the bridge will eventually be demolished. Oddly enough, there are still some who hope that the bridge will find a loving new home. “It’s not out of the realm of possibility that a private individual, if they had unlimited resources, could buy it,” county spokesperson Mike Pullen said in a recent statement.