Quote:
Originally Posted by deasine
Of course I don't know Portland well, I don't live anywhere near Portland.
I just don't see the point of rebuilding the entire bridge to expand pedestrian/cycling infrastructure when you could build an entire new bridge just for that. Then again, the bridge itself is aging.
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The bridge isn't being rebuilt just for bikes and pedestrians. It's being rebuilt because on a scale of 1-100, the feds rate this bridge a 2. It's way too narrow for today's traffic, its structural capacity has been downgraded so that large trucks and buses can no longer use it, the narrow sidewalk is treacherous for both bikes and pedestrians, there are significant stress cracks and lots of structural deformation, basically it's on its last legs and they want to replace it before something tragic happens. Since it has to be replaced anyway, they are widening the traffic lanes significantly to modern standards, adding a full bike lane on each side for bike commuters, and a generous raised sidewalk for pedestrians as well as younger and recreational bicyclists who aren't comfortable biking close to cars, trucks and buses. The reason the Sellwood Bridge needs such large bike/ped accommodations is because there are MAJOR parks and regional trails on both sides of the river, literally right on the east and west banks where the bridge crosses, which generate huge amounts of bike and pedestrian traffic.
Regarding putting pedestrians and cyclists underneath the traffic lanes, that idea was brought up earlier in the design phase, but was dismissed due to safety concerns. It was thought that putting bikes and pedestrians out of sight of vehicular traffic would attract criminal activity.