New concept drawings show future bikeway on new Burnside Bridge

On Monday Multnomah County gave us our best view yet of what the biking might feel like on the new Burnside Bridge.

As we’ve been reporting, the planning process for the “earthquake ready” bridge is slowly but surely marching along. This week the County released a survey to garner public feedback on the bridge design and how to manage traffic during construction.

Along with the survey they released a video with concept drawings that show how the new bikeway might look alongside various design options.

Here are a few more stills I pulled from the video:

As you can see, the experience of cycling over the new Burnside Bridge will be much different than it is today. Currently the bridge offers only minimal physical separation from other users via small plastic wands. The new bridge would have a much more substantial buffer. And as it stands today, the bridge has no visual obstructions while the new bridge would block views of downtown and the eastside.

For reference, the County has said the bicycling lane and adjacent sidewalk will both be 8-feet wide.

And here’s how the bridge itself might look:

Timing-wise, this project is still in its environmental review phase and the County plans to release a draft Environmental Impact Statement for public review early next year. If all goes according to plan construction would begin in 2024.

Learn more from The Oregonian, view the new video and take the design survey here.

— Jonathan Maus: (503) 706-8804, @jonathan_maus on Twitter and jonathan@bikeportland.org
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