The Community Task Force of Multnomah County has made its recommendations for how a new, earthquake-ready Burnside Bridge could look and function.
The Task Force, a group of about 20 community members, area business leaders and others, recommends a long span replacement bridge – a lift bridge at the same location and length as the existing Burnside Bridge with a support structure above the bridge with longer spans, as distances, between the columns of the bridge.
The province is asking for community feedback on the recommended bridge option, as well as what traffic management could look like at the construction site – the Community Task Force recommends a complete bridge closure to save money and time during construction, instead of other options such as building a temporary bridge, which would cost an estimated $ 90 million.
If approved, the project would progress to design and construction would begin in 2024.
“The problem we are trying to solve is that one of our downtown bridges is not expected to be usable after this major earthquake occurs,” said Mike Pullen, spokesman for Multnomah County.
Scientists predict that Oregon is due to an earthquake of 9.0 or greater caused by the Cascadia Subduction Zone sometime in the next 50 years.
County engineers had originally studied more than 100 options to create a seismic sound crossing instead of the current Burnside Bridge – the regionally established emergency route across the Willamette River.
These options were eventually limited to four: Re-adjusting the existing bridge, creating a higher fixed bridge that does not need to be lifted for river traffic, the long span bridge recommended by the Task Force, and another long span bridge which is a new section of bridge that extends to Couch Street.
The recommended bridge for long span had multiple benefits that made it the top option, Pullen said.
“By having fewer columns [under the long span bridge], we get a number of benefits – it makes it more resistant to an earthquake, lowers costs and it really opens up space where there are currently many columns under this 94-year-old bridge, “said Pullen.
He said the bridge will provide more space on the west side of the river for Portland Saturday Market. On the east side, this bridge option includes the preservation of the Burnside Skatepark, which would have to be demolished if the decision was made to renovate the existing bridge.
The long-span replacement option has the lowest construction cost compared to other options – an estimated $ 825 million, Pullen said.
Metro, the regionally elected government for the counties of Multnomah, Clackamas and Washington, recently referred a multi-billion-dollar conveyor belt measure to the November vote that includes $ 150 million dedicated to a new Burnside Bridge.
The Multnomah County Board of Commissioners also late last year issued an ordinance almost shedding tears from the county’s transportation registry to help fund the new bridge. The county’s fee registration fee, wrapped in the state registration fee that Oregonians pay every other year, is currently $ 19 per year. It will jump to $ 56 a year starting in January.
Pullen said these two sources will fund about half of the price of the bridge’s proposed construction budget.
The province hopes the rest of the construction costs will come from state or federal funding, he said.
“What you’re hearing in the transportation arena today is that the state and federal governments really want to see the local governments, in principle the owner of the project, which is Multnomah County in this case, they want to see us invest our own money. at the start of construction, “said Pullen.” It shows them that we have invested in ourselves and that the project has community support. “
Pullen said the project has indeed received community support, though he said the only concern the county has received about the proposed long span bridge is that it could change the views in downtown Portland – specifically the view of Portland, Oregon , sign in Old Town – since the bridge with long span requires over the bridge that the current bridge does not have.
One design option for the new Burnside Bridge is a ‘colored arch’, similar to the Fremont Bridge.
Multnomah County
The actual design of the bridge is yet to be determined. Some design versions include: A “colorful arch”, with a somewhat similar appearance to the Fremont Bridge; “Cable remained”, similar to Tilikum Crossing; and an “intersection,” which most closely resembles the appearance of the Hawthorne or Broadway bridges.
When the bridge comes to the design part of the plan, it will either have an elevator as a rotating center movable part, depending on which design is finalized.
The province is asking the community to weigh in on the recommended options for bridge and construction through two studies, the results of which will go back to the Community Task Force.
The Task Force’s recommendations will be incorporated into a draft Environmental Impact Statement to be issued by the Federal Highway Administration in early 2021.
