page_title: Blue Bridge (Reed College)
section_title: Reception
hierarchical_section_title: Blue Bridge (Reed College) / Reception
caption_attribution_description: English: Blue Bridge, Reed College, Portland, Oregon (2013)
context_page_description: The Blue Bridge, also known as the Cross Canyon Bridge, is a curved pedestrian and bicycle bridge connecting the north and south halves of the Reed College campus in Portland, Oregon, in the United States. The bridge crosses Reed Lake, located within the 28-acre watershed on campus known as the "canyon"; this includes part of the course of Crystal Springs Creek, a tributary of Johnson Creek. The Blue Bridge, completed in 1992, marks the third in a series of bridges that have been commonly referred to as the "cross canyon bridges", signifying their function on campus.
  The Blue Bridge replaced the Arthur M. Churchill Memorial Bridge, completed in 1959 as a replacement for a flat wooden bridge constructed in the 1930s. The unique design of the Churchill Memorial Bridge, which was supported by two cantilevers of pre-stressed plywood and covered with a thin canvas membrane, made it the only one of its kind in the world. The canvas membrane was later determined to be too slippery. Replacement of the Churchill Memorial Bridge arose from the Campus Facilities Master Plan, adopted by the City of Portland in 1990.
context_section_description: The bridge won the award for "Excellence in Concrete" from the American Concrete and Aggregate Producers Association. For its opening, students created a "super-highway" appearance including a traffic divider; according to Reed, remnants still exist in the center of the bridge. The Blue Bridge has been included in at least one published cycling guide of Portland.
  Known for its aesthetics, the Blue Bridge is often featured in catalogs and displays to attract students to the campus. The bridge has served as a meeting place and has been cited as a favorite location on campus by students and faculty. In April 2003, Tibetan Buddhist monks used the bridge to execute a milk sacrifice and to disperse sand used in the creation of a sand mandala. Former Reed College professor Helen Stafford, who became the institution's first female professor in the sciences in 1954, requested that her ashes be scattered along the shore of Reed Lake near the Blue Bridge; her request was carried out following her death in 2012. The bridge, along with other sites on the Reed College campus and throughout Portland, was featured in the films Feast of Love (2007) and Blue Like Jazz (2012). Scenes from Blue Like Jazz that included the bridge were filmed in January 2011.
caption: The bridge in 2013
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