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Special Coverage of the Flanders Street Bridge Project
Flanders Street is slated to become a bicycle boulevard. As part of that effort, a new bridge is to be constructed over I-405. One plan is to re-use the old Sauvie Island Bridge.

Below are the latest articles on this topic. To see other local media coverage of this story, see my links on de.licio.us.


Sauvie update: Saltzman not playing politics; Mercury says Potter is “flat out wrong”

Posted on April 9th, 2008 at 3:56 pm.

“It’s nice spin… but it’s flat out wrong.” –Portland Mercury News Editor Amy Ruiz, on Mayor Potter’s comments about the funding for the Sauvie Island Bridge re-use plan

The situation with the effort to re-use the Sauvie Island Bridge span in Northwest Portland is changing by the hour.
The two late developments of the day are an […]

Mayor tries to ‘Lift the fog’ around his Sauvie span decision

Posted on April 9th, 2008 at 9:05 am.

Mayor Potter listening to testimony in support of the Sauvie span at City Hall last week.(Photos © J. Maus)

Mayor Potter has issued a statement to help further clarify his decision to vote against a proposal that would have allowed PDOT to turn the old Sauvie Island Bridge span into a new crossing of I-405 […]

BTA, activists work to save Sauvie span

Posted on April 8th, 2008 at 3:25 pm.

“We intend to demonstrate to elected officials that there’s huge support for re-using the Sauvie span.”–the BTA’s Karl Rohde

While City Hall tries to work out its differences on the effort to move the old Sauvie Island Bridge span to NW Flanders street, bike advocates and citizen activists are moving forward in a push to raise […]

Kuney flies in to help save the Sauvie span

Posted on April 3rd, 2008 at 2:17 pm.

Max J. Kuney at City Hall a few hours ago.(Photo © J. Maus)

Max J. Kuney, of Kuney Construction, flew into Portland today to help save the Sauvie Island Bridge span.
Sensing that the project was on life-support after yesterday’s setback at City Council, Kuney paid his own way to fly to City Hall from his Spokane […]

Attention turns to Kuney for Sauvie span solution

Posted on April 2nd, 2008 at 3:26 pm.

“We’re open to moving the project forward. We think it’s a neat project and we don’t want to see the project die.”–Max J. Kuney, Kuney Construction

With City Council unable to reach the required unanimous support for an emergency proposal that would have brought the Sauvie Island Bridge span to NW Flanders Street, all eyes […]

What’s next for the Sauvie Island Bridge span?

Posted on April 2nd, 2008 at 12:10 pm.

Commissioner Adams (L) and Mayor Potter (R) listen to testimony in Council Chambers this morning.(Photo © J. Maus)

With a major setback at City Council today, the question now is, what’s next?
Commissioner Adams did not secure the votes he needed today to enter into a contract with Kuney Construction to begin the relocation and construction of […]

Live from City Council: Potter present for Sauvie Bridge Span re-use vote

Posted on April 2nd, 2008 at 8:56 am.

[Read updates at bottom of story.]
Mayor Potter, who was supposed to be tied up all this week in the labor arbitration hearing of a police lieutenant he fired, has decided to show up at the City Council meeting this morning.
Besides perhaps wanting to be present at the last City Council meeting of Commissioner Erik Sten, […]

BTA issues action alert, urges members to support Sauvie span

Posted on April 1st, 2008 at 3:51 pm.

“This project would cost a little more but would deliver huge returns.”–from a BTA blog post

In the wake of Mayor Potter’s memo and with a looming City Council vote that could kill the plan to bring the Sauvie Island Bridge span to Northwest Portland, the Bicycle Transportation Alliance is sounding the alarm to its 5,000+ […]

Read Potter’s memo on Sauvie Island Bridge re-use plan

Posted on April 1st, 2008 at 3:34 pm.

Download memo (130K, PDF)

I’ve finally obtained the memo from Mayor Potter that I referred to in my story about the Sauvie Island Bridge re-use plan I published earlier today.
The memo outlines Potter’s concerns about the plan and was sent to all four Commissioners and the City Auditor. Potter’s seeming lack of support for the […]

Flanders Street bike bridge fate will be decided tomorrow

Posted on April 1st, 2008 at 10:42 am.

Tomorrow, Portland City Council will decide whether or not the City will re-use the Sauvie Island Bridge span for a bicycle and pedestrian-only crossing of I-405 at Northwest Flanders street.
The owner of the span, Kuney Construction, is currently under contract with ODOT to demolish the bridge. Therefore, if PDOT wants to continue their effort […]

Pinot Pedal will raise funds for new bike bridge in the Pearl

Posted on March 28th, 2008 at 12:50 pm.

Organizers of the second annual Pinot Pedal will donate registration proceeds and a percentage of sales from a Pearl District wine retailer to help raise funds for a bicycle and pedestrian bridge over Interstate 405.

Imagine this in downtown Portland.

The ride, which is sponsored by Urban Wineworks and Bishop Creek Cellars, will offer participants their choice […]

Updated: Backers begin effort to re-use Sauvie span in the Pearl

Posted on March 11th, 2008 at 12:55 pm.

[NOTE: *I have updated this post at 12:30pm on 3/12 to correct my errors in the funding numbers and sources for the project.]
The effort to re-use the old Sauvie Island bridge span for a bike and pedestrian-only bridge over the 405 freeway at NW Flanders has been renewed and backers of the project say they’ve […]

New Sauvie Island bridge will give bikes more breathing room

Posted on November 28th, 2007 at 9:33 am.

Bikes won’t have to share the lane with cars on new Sauvie Island bridge.(File photo ©)

With all the recent talk about the Sellwood and Columbia River bridge projects, I haven’t heard a peep about the Sauvie Island bridge.
Last time I looked (this weekend), construction on the new bridge is moving right along. According to […]

Sauvie Island bridge might still end up in the Pearl

Posted on July 24th, 2007 at 7:30 am.

It’s been over a year since I reported on the status of an idea to re-purpose the Sauvie Island Bridge as a super-sized bicycle and pedestrian crossing over the 405 freeway at Flanders Boulevard looking East.

Artists rendition of Sauvie span on Flanders.(Graphic origin unknown)

Given the price tag and the logistical hurdles of the project, I […]

Sauvie Island Bridge idea not dead yet

Posted on June 23rd, 2006 at 10:24 am.

Last week Portland Transport reported that the idea of recycling the old Sauvie Island Bridge and turning it into a bike and pedestrian overpass in Northwest Portland was dead.
However judging from this statement from a post on Commissioner Sam Adams’ blog, the idea might still have some life:

“When all is said and done, the project […]

Sauvie Island Bridge not coming to NW

Posted on June 16th, 2006 at 3:28 pm.

[via Portland Transport]
After some speculation that the old Sauvie Island Bridge might become a new bike/ped only bridge over the 405 freeway at Flanders Street, city transportation insider Chris Smith tell us that,

“The Commissioner’s office indicates that community response was not sufficient to justify the extra cost of moving the bridge.”
We needed a ton […]

Sauvie Island Bridge coming to NW Portland?

Posted on March 16th, 2006 at 5:03 pm.

Very intersting post over on Sam Adam’s blog. It concerns the possibility of moving the Sauvie Island Bridge - which is slated for demolition once the new one is built - to Northwest Portland. They’re trying to decide if the span should be re-used to create a bicycle and pedestrian only bridge across […]