Driving across the Ross Island Bridge, in the best of times, is a joyless jaunt on the White-Knuckle Express.

It's funny how this works, but each of the four lanes on the bridge is precisely 3 centimeters wider than your vehicle. It doesn't matter if you're driving a tractor-trailer or a Geo Metro. It's magical that way.

The Ross Island carries more than 64,600 cars a day, according to a 2016 tally, making it the busiest bridge in Portland, aside from the ones that carry interstates: the Marquam, Fremont, Interstate and Glenn Jackson.

So, imagine driving across this unassuming 3,700-foot-long span Thursday only to have a Toyota Sienna minivan driver try to execute a U-turn immediately in front of you.

Not even a great U-turn.

A dangerous and slowly-executed U-turn.

Aleks Shevchuk doesn't have to imagine it, because he watched it unfold right in front of his semi-truck, which, by the way, was packed with 41,500 pounds of dog food headed for parts unknown across this pooch-filled land.

Shevchuk, 31, was traveling from Salem to Union Pacific's Brooklyn Yard just before noon.

"I see these kinds of situations a lot," Shevchuk said of dangerous driving. But even this maneuver stood out. His brother posted video of the harrowing stunt to Reddit's Idiots in Cars thread.

He honked his horn, slammed on the brakes, and watched in wonder as the driver turned into oncoming traffic.

Portland police officials said they were not alerted to the incident, which would be classified as an illegal U-turn and perhaps warrant additional citations due to the recklessness involved.

Shevchuk said drivers are becoming bolder and angrier as congestion has worsened in Portland in recent years. "People flip me off and stuff," he said.

But this driver, who appeared to be older, didn't flip him off.

When she turned around, she just waved. And off she went.

Oregonian staff reporter Eder Campuzano contributed to this report



-- Andrew Theen

atheen@oregonian.com

503-294-4026

@andrewtheen