Fremont Bridge flags will fly half-staff amid asbestos worries

June 1, 2017

Contact: Don Hamilton, 503-704-7452

Don.B.Hamilton@odot.state.or.us

 

Kimberly Dinwiddie, 503-539-8454

Kimberly.Dinwiddie@odot.state.or.us

 

With the right safety gear, Fremont Bridge flags will fly at half-staff amid asbestos worries

 

ODOT will lower the Fremont Bridge flags to half-staff Friday after arranging the appropriate protective equipment that will safely allow workers inside the arch leading to the top.

The inside of the arch may have been infested with asbestos in a May 14 fire that consumed a warehouse under the bridge and sent heavy smoke through the structure. Concerns over the presence of asbestos kept ODOT workers from safely climbing the arch and lowering the flags to half-staff on Memorial Day, Monday May 29, as ordered by the president.

ODOT crews will wear authorized protective gear that will allow them to safely climb through the arch Friday in case asbestos is present.

A consulting company recently took samples from inside the arch and will test them for the presence of asbestos. Results should be known in a few weeks.

Gov. Kate Brown ordered flags at all public institutions in Oregon lowered to half-staff from sunrise Friday to sunset Monday to honor to the victims and the Good Samaritans killed in an attack last week on a MAX train.

The Fremont Bridge, which opened in 1973, is owned and operated by the state of Oregon. One American flag and one Oregon flag fly from poles at the top and are lowered to half-staff for certain holidays and as ordered by the governor or the president. The top of the bridge, the location of the flagpoles, is 381 feet above the Willamette River.

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