Flyover visualizations produced by the Interstate Bridge Replacement Program give us our best view yet on what the future of the I-5 freeway between Portland and Vancouver might look like after an estimated $7.5 billion investment. The project team has released these about half-way through a federally-mandated public comment period and only after they’ve raised over $4 billion and built considerable political inertia to begin the project.
The IBR team revealed a series of flyover videos at a Monday meeting of the Joint Interim Committee on the Interstate 5 Bridge, a group made up of legislators from Oregon and Washington. The “visual fly-throughs” were introduced at the meeting by Chris Regan, the IBR environmental manager.
Regan told lawmakers the videos were created to “help our community members better visualize and understand the potential investments that we’re studying.”
Scroll down for some before/after images of the interchanges and views of the future bikeway…
Marine Drive interchange looking north
Hayden Island/Jantzen Beach Interchange
Vancouver Riverfront
As you view these, keep in mind that the design is not yet final. The project has adopted a “locally preferred alternative” (LPA), in order to compare something to a “no-build” scenario, but within that LPA there are still several key design options under consideration.
The IBR is about half-way through a crucial public comment period on its Draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (DSEIS). This week the project hosts its first two, in-person public hearings and these flyover videos will be shown at each of them.
The lack of high-quality visuals is something project-watchers have been clamoring for for a long time. How can the public and lawmakers weigh the need to invest billions in something that hasn’t even been revealed to them yet? Note that even without these visuals, the project has already secured over $1 billion from each state and $2.1 billion from the federal government for a total of $4.2 billion.
Bikeway integration (read captions for details)
As bicycle riders, the videos reveal the best look yet at how we’ll approach the river and cross onto the bridge structure, then return back to surface streets. Look through gallery of screenshots above for a closer look at how the bikeway interacts with the various designs.
Coming from the south, it appears like whether you come from east or west of I-5, the route onto the bridge will be much more intuitive and direct. West of I-5, the project will build a bikeway along N Expo Road that begins at Delta Park dog park. This bikeway will head north to Marine Drive and then go west under the new bridge structure, onto a ramp, and then up onto a new bridge that will connect to Hayden Island and/or continue northbound onto the main bridge structure before coming to a spiral ramp that leads from the bridge on the Washington side and connects to surface streets in Vancouver.
In the single-level design, the flyover shows tiny little specks that are bike riders and walkers, at the same grade as six other travel lanes. If the final design of the project calls for a double-deck bridge, the bikeway will go under the bridge deck. Unfortunately, none of these visuals show the view of the bikeway over the river in the double-deck bridge design. (For more on the bikeway elements, refer to this PDF map.)
These visuals mark an important milestone and should give more people the ability to form opinions and comments on the project. Watch them and consider attending an upcoming open house and don’t forget to share an official comment so your feedback is included in the official public record. The design can still be altered and refined if enough people share a similar concern about a particular element of the project.
To help inform your comment(s), imagine yourself living, walking, biking, or taking transit on and around these proposed facilities. How would you feel? What would make it easier and/or more attractive to you?
The Portland in-person public hearing and open house is this Thursday, October 17th from 5:30 to 8:30 pm at the Expo Center. Learn more about the event here.
