Burnside Bridge open to bikes/peds only for most of July
Posted by Jonathan Maus (Editor) on June 29th, 2007 at 1:58 pm
during a recent bike parade.
(File photo)
Because of a tricky construction project on the Burnside Bridge, Multnomah County officials have decided to close the entire span to cars for three weeks in July.
And according to Mike Pullen from their Public Affairs Office, the bridge will remain open to bicycles and pedestrians only for the duration of the closure.
So mark your calendars for three weeks of car-free bridge-riding! There’s already talk of a party and maybe the Breakfast on the Bridges crew could make an appearance!?
Pullen says the closure is tentatively scheduled to begin on July 9thwill begin July 16th and it will go through the end of the month August 6th.
But be aware that due to the 45,000 vehicles that usually cross the bridge on a typical day, traffic will be heavier than usual on alternate routes (like the Broadway Bridge).
[Thanks to Todd Boulanger for the tip!]
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June 29th, 2007 14:12
Sweet! What an awesome riding spot to have for the summer.
June 29th, 2007 14:27
Someone is smiling on us, it would have been a lot easier for them just to call it closed to all.
June 29th, 2007 14:33
Carfree Burnside is in effect!
If you've got ideas for how to make the most of it, get involved with Shift (http://www.shift2bikes.org). Shift knows how to have carfree fun and if ever there was an occasion for carfree fun, it's on the Burnside Bridge for all of July.
June 29th, 2007 15:07
Amen to that! Life is always better without the cagers around!
June 29th, 2007 15:19
I don't want to rain on anybody's bike parade, but in theory the bridge is going to be closed due to some hectic construction work. so we *might* want to plan around such things as giant bridge-fixing trucks, cranes, back-hoes, noise, dust, explosions, or workers who would rather we weren't projecting a movie on them while they're trying to fix our bridge ...
-m-
June 29th, 2007 15:30
mykle,
Right, but I don't think they're going to be working 24/7.
More like 8-4, m-f
June 29th, 2007 15:49
It's more than luck -- when I worked at the BTA, I found that Mike Pullen over there at the County really went out of his way to make sure they had thought through bike issues and done their best to accommodate us. He even sat down with me to design the detour through the different phases of bridge construction. You're right, another jurisdiction would have done the easy thing and closed it to everyone. Thanks, Mike!
June 29th, 2007 16:21
Now let's get it so that every 10th street or so is closed to auto traffic, eh?
June 29th, 2007 19:46
Mykle, I know you better than that. Rainy parades can still be fun.
June 29th, 2007 22:37
Johnathan or someone with government connections: wanna investigate and see what the construction traffic is gonna be like?
June 30th, 2007 13:05
I haven't seen these mentioned yet:
Portland Car Free Day email list... we create the Portland Car Free Day(s) Street Fair (sometimes it is more than one day) each year (almost). We have fun meetings by creating a living room (sofa, chairs, table, lamp) in a parking space on, for example, NE Alberta during Last Thursday.
http://lists.riseup.net/www/info/portlandcarfreeday
Also, email list for organizing bike mystery mobile movie rides:
http://lists.riseup.net/www/info/mysterymovieride
We're planning a July 4th movie showing... obviously too soon for the Burnside Br.
June 30th, 2007 22:23
Nice....maybe this will be the start of turning Burnside on it's ear--Burnside Bike Boulevard---Portland's first bike only road. I biked through the peaceful forest of Mt. Tabor today and was caughing up a lung from the passing cars. One could easier make it a car free park, especially on weekends when people are out walking and biking.
July 1st, 2007 12:20
Come build decorations to celebrate Burnside's liberation!
When: July 3rd, 5:00pm
Where: Colonel Summers Park
The tools: bring your paint pots, paint brushes, cardboard and thinking caps.
July 2nd, 2007 10:38
Hi PDOT and Sam Adams Office...
Perhaps this is a good time to do bridge counts on all the Willamette bridges and see where the traffic volumes shift to or if the loss of this bridge's lane capacity (4 lanes) does not do too much harm to the network (no gridlock and lower volumes on West Burnside) ...making the case for other bridge lane closures to improve pedestrian, bicyclist, and transit capacity enhancements.
It was interesting to see the old tram tracks under the Burnside bridge apshalt when they were resurfacing it last year...plus those cool old photos (displayed in the Trimet buses) of the pedestrian refuge islands (tram stops) near where the pedestrian stairways are above the Saturday Market. This was much more pedestrian and bike friendly than the current layout.
July 16th, 2007 15:03
Has anyone been on the Burnside today?