Portland, Oregon is known for a lot of things. Restaurants, food carts, breweries, rain, coffee shops, and great public transportation, to name a few. One thing Portland is known for that is highly relevant to someone working as an on-demand courier is bridges. Here are the 9 that on-demand couriers need to know in order to be effective in Portland.
9. Steel Bridge
This bridge connects Old Town Chinatown to the commercial Lloyd District. Great for deliveries from NE Portland to the Chinatown or NW Naito Parkway area.
8. Sellwood Bridge
This bridge connects SW Portland to the Sellwood and Westmoreland area. You absolutely will cross this bridge when delivering from SW Portland restaurants to the Sellwood/Westmoreland neighborhood. This is not a biker friendly bridge. At the moment, it’s under construction. For more information that, visit here.
7. Burnside Bridge
Burnside Street divides Portland into north and south. There are a lot of popular places – restaurants, bars, and clubs – on Burnside Street. You’ll be using this bridge to get to and from these venues. The thing to remember about Burnside street is that it’s very busy on the west side. Left turns aren’t allowed at most intersections.
6. Ross Island Bridge
This bridge connects City Center and Powell Boulevard. Powell Boulevard is the main street that runs east and west of Portland. You can use this bridge to delivery to people who are either associated with Portland State University, working in the City Center area, or residents of South Waterfront.
5. Marquam Bridge
This is basically a freeway. You should expect to use this bridge when driving from Portland State University (SW Downtown Portland) to NE Portland and vice versa. You can also quickly get from Portland State University to the Buckman area using the Marquam Bridge. Use the OMSI exit to get to Buckman.
4. Hawthorne Bridge
Operating since 1910, this is the oldest operating vertical lift bridge in the United States. It connects Hawthorne and Madison Street. You will cross this bridge to delivery food from Hawthorne to Downtown Portland.
3. Fremont Bridge
This bridge connects parts of NE Portland with NW Portland, particularly the Northwest and Pearl districts. Expect to use this bridge whenever someone in NE Portland orders from one of the restaurants in these districts.
2. Broadway Bridge
Broadway is right next to Fremont. This is a good bridge to use when delivering for restaurants in NW Portland to people in the Lloyd District or the Boise, King, Humboldt and Overlook neighborhoods. At the moment there’s a lot of construction around this bridge so traffic can be slow.
1. Morrison Bridge
This bridge is the most versatile bridge for on-demand couriers. It can be used in most if not all scenarios. Understanding the versatility of this bridge will help couriers immensely so get to know the ins and outs of this bridge.
Going from East Portland to West Portland, you can merge onto I-5 heading north. Along this way, you can eventually merge onto the Fremont Bridge to Northwest Portland. If you need to go to an area in Southwest Portland like Portland State University, Barbur Boulevard or the South Waterfront, then cross to the west side and then take a right turn and get onto Naito Parkway southbound to get there.
Crossing the bridge from west to east, you can merge onto I-5 or I-84, to get to North Portland and Lloyd or neighborhoods further east like Hollywood, Laurelhurst, and Mt. Tabor. Going straight across the bridge leads to the neighborhoods of Kerns, Buckman, Ladd’s Additions and even Richmond.
Unlike ridesharing apps like Lyft and Uber, couriers are not being rated by customers for their knowledge of the city when delivering food, but earning in terms of dollars per hour can be directly related to navigation skills. Couriers need to know when to use these bridges in order to make good time when delivering.
Feel free to point out anything that needs to be said about Portland bridges in the comments if you think it’ll help your fellow couriers out.
