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A handout image from Multnomah County shows its new Bridge Alerts app during a Hawthorne Bridge lift.

(Multnomah County)

A new Multnomah County app could put a damper on one of Portland's most popular excuses for tardiness.

The Bridge Alerts app for Apple and Android devices provides notifications for when one of the county's four movable bridges -- Broadway, Burnside, Hawthorne and Morrison -- are open, blocking traffic. It also shows the duration of the lift.

The app also gives advance warning for bridge lifts scheduled ahead of time for passing river traffic or maintenance, and it shows the five most recent lifts for each bridge.

The app doesn't include the Steel Bridge over the Willamette River, which is owned by the Union Pacific Railroad.

And it doesn't include the city's most trafficked lift span, the Interstate Bridge over the Columbia River, which is jointly owned by the Washington and Oregon transportation departments.

Mike Pullen, a spokesman for the county, said they started with just the spans the county owns.

"If there is interest, we can check with the owners of the other drawbridges and see if it is possible to add them to our app," he said.

The county's information technology staff worked on the app with interns from the coding school Epicodus.

-- Elliot Njus

enjus@oregonian.com

503-294-5034

@enjus