If you have somewhere to put it, officials in Portland, Oregon, are offering a decrepit 335m-long steel bridge at a knock-down price.
The Sellwood Bridge comes with a paved road, pavements and railings, but none of the support beams that hold it above the Willamette River, according to a for-sale notice that was due to run in newspapers yesterday.
Mike Pullen, the spokesman for Multnomah County, said potential buyers would have to prove they had somewhere to keep the bridge, funds to move it, and a plan to relocate it without its lead paint contaminating the environment.
The county would let the bridge go for less than it would otherwise earn recycling the 88-year-old mix of steel and concrete, if the buyer kept it intact, he added. “We’d even consider a plan to buy half of it, especially if somebody was going to make it available for public use,” he said.
County officials have not put any price on it, and are soliciting bids from qualified buyers.
Construction crews moved the Sellwood Bridge 18m last year at a cost of $1 million (R10.6m) to make way for a replacement that is set to be complete in early 2016.
The county is required by the federal National Historic Preservation Act to attempt to sell the bridge before demolishing it.
If no valid bids are received by September 12, the bridge will be scrapped and recycled. – Reuters