Sellwood Bridge
(Photo © J. Maus/BikePortland)

If riding across the Sellwood Bridge is part of your daily routine, you need to make other plans. The 1,100 foot long bridge is set to close from this Thursday January 17th - 24th while construction crews move it — yes, move it — to the north to make room for the new bridge. The old bridge will become the detour around ongoing construction.

Instead of building a new bridge to use until the new one is done in summer 2015, Multnomah County decided on the "Big Move" because it will save time (about one year) and money ($5-10 million), and it will have fewer environmental impacts. (more...)

A sign that reads 'Bikers! Please Slow Down!' greets
people at the entrance to SW Miles Place.
(Photo © J. Maus/BikePortland)

Tomorrow night, Multnomah County will hold a public meeting to discuss the future SW Miles Place Regional Trail. As part of the Sellwood Bridge Project, the County has decided to connect the path on the west end of the bridge to the existing Willamette Greenway Trail from the Macadam Bay houseboat community just north of the bridge, to Willamette Park.

Currently, SW Miles Place is a quaint, quiet, potholed and under-developed street that consists of a few dozen single-family homes nestled between Highway 43 and the Willamette River. Back in June, residents successfully stopped the County from routing auto traffic from the houseboat community down the street. Now the big question is: How should the County re-design the road for the increased bicycle traffic expected once the bridge opens? (more...)

Detail of new path. See
full image below.
(Photos: Mult. County)

Last week we shared the news that Multnomah County has built a new bike path on the northwest side of the Sellwood Bridge. The new path will be in place for at least another year, while construction crews continue to work on replacing the old bridge.

Since I haven't been out there myself to take a closer look, County spokesman Mike Pullen snapped a few photos for us. If you use that part of the bridge on your regular route, the photos below should give you a good idea of what to expect. There have also been some reviews of the new path and other observations shared in the comments of our story last week.

Here's the entrance to the new path (it looks to be only about 4 1/2 to 5 feet wide)... (more...)

Multnomah County has built a new path for bike traffic.
(Photos sent in by a reader)

A new bike path on the western end of the Sellwood Bridge was just completed yesterday. Multnomah County spokesman Mike Pullen says it will be in place for about a year and that it's one of many temporary alignments we can expect as the bridge is rebuilt over the next three years.

Heading west over the bridge sidewalk, you will now see a transition into a curb-protected path, separated from Highway 43 with plastic "candlestick" bollards. This path leads northbound bike traffic all the way down a corkscrew ramp. About two-thirds of the way down the ramp (once it is going south), you can choose to continue to Lake Oswego or Riverview Cemetery, or — if you want to go north toward Portland — you must make a sharp, hairpin turn (marked with an arrow in the image below). (more...)

Adopted plans.

Last week, the Multnomah County Board of Commissioners adopted final plans for the new Sellwood Bridge. After a bumpy final week of the six-year process to arrive at a design, people who care about quality bicycle access breathed a sigh of relief on Thursday when the Board voted to shelve their hastily planned, cost-cutting alternative design.

On July 13th, the County raised lots of eyebrows when they shared several cost-cutting measures that would have dramatically changed bicycle access. On Monday of last week, at the meeting of the Project Stakeholder's Committee (PSC), Portland Mayor Sam Adams eviscerated the County's plans. Adams poked holes in the County's proposed money saving measures and raised significant concerns about the hasty timeline and the impact the design would have on bicycling and walking. (more...)

Adams did not like what the County had to offer.
(Photos © J. Maus/BikePortland)

Facing fierce opposition from the public — and stern questioning from Portland Mayor Sam Adams — Multnomah County decided to not move forward on their cost-cutting proposal for the Sellwood Bridge project. The proposal would have had significant impacts to bicycling on the bridge and it has only been public for about one week (versus six years of process to reach consensus on the existing design).

Adams was clearly displeased with many aspects of the proposal throughout a meeting of the Project Stakeholder Committee which took place at Multnomah County headquarters today. At the meeting, the County was asking Adams and the PSC (which includes state legislators and reps from TriMet, ODOT, the Federal Highway Administration, and more) to agree to the plan ahead of a vote by the County Commission scheduled for this Thursday.
(more...)

Ouch.

Like many of you, I'm still trying to figure out what exactly is going on with the Sellwood Bridge project. I have not followed it very closely since the celebratory groundbreaking back in December. My sense was that the project came out great for bicycling with ample riding room and connectivity.

Then, on Tuesday night at a PBOT Bicycle Advisory Committee meeting, I heard the first murmur that changes were afoot. By Wednesday, the news was public that, due to a variety of factors (including under-estimated project costs and rising steel and fuel costs), the County needed to shave $3.2 million off the project's cost. I'm still not clear on how the cost-cutting decisions were made; but the fact remains that of the $3.2 million in cuts, about $2.1 million directly impacts bicycling.
(more...)

Last minute cost-cutting has resulted in proposed design changes to the $268 million Sellwood Bridge project that could have significant impacts on bicycling. With a key vote on the final design set for this coming Monday (7/16) and a decision on the plans set for Thursday (7/19), the Bicycle Transportation Alliance is concerned that there's not enough time to consider the changes and they are urging the county to delay the vote.

Citing rising costs, the County has proposed $3.2 million in project cutbacks. The biggest ticket item on the chopping block is a $2 million multi-use path bridge. Another $81,000 proposed cutback will shelve plans for "surface treatments" on the bike/walk lanes.

The BTA has been tracking this project closely and has a volunteer on the Citizen's Advisory Committee. Here's more from a BTA blog post yesterday: (more...)

Some options would have turned
this into a larger road to handle 200
extra cars daily.
(Photo: Multnomah County)

The construction of the new Sellwood Bridge is already having some impacts on the nearby transportation network. As The Oregonian reported last month, a decision to relocate an access road to Highway 43 for the Macadam Bay houseboat community just north of the bridge "ignited a fierce debate".

At issue was where to put the estimated 200 cars that go between the houseboats and the highway every day. The county considered a myriad of options, but there was opposition to each of them. Of particular interest to readers of this blog is that the Willamette Greenway trail begins on SW Miles Place and runs parallel to Highway 43 in this same area. Also, as part of the Sellwood Bridge project, the trail will be improved and connected to the bridge. (more...)

Multnomah County Commissioner Deborah Kafoury (L) smiles as she poses with a check from USDOT Assistant Secretary for Transportation Policy Polly Trottenberg at the ground breaking event in Sellwood Riverfront Park this morning.

(more...)