The Morrison Bridge is coming apart at the seams.

No, the busiest Multnomah County-run bridge, carrying more than 50,000 automobiles, bicycles and pedestrians a day, isn't exactly falling into the Willamette River. But a little more than a year after it was completed, the lift span's new environmentally friendly, skid-resistant polymer surface is cracking apart and coming unscrewed.

Worried downtown Portland drivers are definitely starting to notice.

"The sound coming off the deck is pretty daunting and haunting," said Dave Isbell of Sandy, who regularly drives his Honda Fit across the Morrison to get to and from his job as an IT manager for Ticketmaster. "And it's getting worse."

When a driver is crossing the bridge in a car, the surface -- which offered little more than a smooth, gentle home when it was first completed -- now protests the weight of vehicles with a loud clacking that's akin to loose roof shingles in a wind storm. It's also bumpy.

At this point, tax payers and motorists alike have every right to be confused.

Didn't the county just finish a nearly $5 million project to replace the slippery steel grating that for decades proved hazardous during Oregon's long, wet winters?

But you may also remember that the Morrison might as well be a draw bridge across the River Styx.

In 2011, missteps by the county and Ridgefield-based contractor Conway Construction (and bad advice from the Oregon Department of Transportation) stalled the project for two months.

As the county and Conway locked horns over debris that the contractor spilled into the river, the blocked-off construction area at mid-span was a dead zone. A lane was out of service. Equipment sat idle near a gaping hole in the deck, causing regular gridlock.

Eventually a deal was worked out to allow Conway, the project's low bidder, to finish installing the deck.

Now, the construction company --

, according to a story in the Portland Mercury --

(PDF) both the maker of the bridge decking, North Carolina-based

, and supplier Strongwell Corp. of Virginia for breach of warranty.

Conway wants to be reimbursed more than $1.3 million.

Realizing that sections of the new decking are coming undone under the weight of traffic, Multnomah County earlier this month

(PDF) a so-called "intervention" in the lawsuit.

Essentially, the county, not wanting to shoulder any of the blame or repair cost, is suing all three parties. Just in case.

Among other things, the county claims that the decking panels used on the project were damaged when they were installed and were improperly fastened. What's more, the complaint states the decking isn't adequately resisting "corrosion and other damage from contact with moisture."

A trial date in the convoluted legal mess is expected to be set by a judge this week.

"Some of the screws are backing out," said Mike Pullen, a Multnomah County transportation spokesman. "It's just unclear if it's because of how it was installed or the material itself."

In the meantime, Pullen said county bridge crews are conducting regular bridge inspections of the span, which typically gets a good look every two years.

"We're going to do another one this fall," he said. "At this point, there's no indication that there's a safety issue for motorists."

Still, at some point, the deck panels, which ZellComp said were supposed to last a couple decades, probably need to be fixed or replaced. Court documents say that will add up to $2 million.

But Conway maintains that the county required it to use panels manufactured by ZellComp, which supplied the decking for a similar project on the Broadway Bridge.

"They put ZellComp in the specs (of the contract)," said Joe Yazbeck, the Portland attorney representing Conway. "They told Conway to use them, and now their suing Conway because they're dissatisfied with ZelComp."

Raising the stakes of the lawsuit is the fact that Zelcomp is trying to convince governments around the country that its polymer panels are the future of bridge building.

On its website, featuring a photo of the Broadway Bridge, ZellComp trumpets its decks as "cost efficient and easy and fast to install," offering "innovative materials, and, with a lower carbon footprint, offer significant environmental advantages."

"Our decks have been independently tested to demonstrate they exceed required strength safety standards, which the County confirmed through its own test program at Portland State University," the company said in a statement emailed to The Oregonian.

Pullen said the county has been mostly happy with the ZellComp decking installed on the Broadway Bridge in 2005. But he said there was one worrisome issue: Hollow sections of the panels were filling with rain water.

"We drilled holes in the underside," Pullen said. "That seems to have fixed the problem."

Motorists aren't asking for a return of heavy, slick steel grating on the two city draw bridges. But they appear to be getting impatient with the county's polymer surface experiment.

"Shall we start preparing ourselves for another term of restricted traffic on that oft mended structure? (Sigh)," Richard Wingard of Portland asked in an email to The Oregonian.

Unfortunately, it's looking that way.

-- Joseph Rose