WoW, this thing is picking up steam!
Panel realigns route of Portland to Milwaukie light-rail span
The proposed Willamette River crossing would link the South Waterfront to an area south of OMSI
Friday, May 02, 2008
ERIC MORTENSON
The Oregonian
A new bridge to carry light-rail trains, streetcars, bicyclists and pedestrians over the Willamette River should be built on an alignment that connects one of Portland's biggest tourist draws to its biggest employer, a committee of property owners, business leaders and government officials agreed Thursday.
The Willamette River Crossing Partnership, chaired by former Mayor Vera Katz, recommended what it called a "most supported" alignment. The crossing, part of the new $1 billion-plus Portland to Milwaukie light-rail line, would jump the river just south of Oregon Museum of Science and Industry on the east side and land on the west side between Southwest Meade and Sherman streets.
The western landing would provide access to Oregon Health & Science University's South Waterfront property and to the aerial tram that ascends to the medical school's facilities on the hill.
The alignment puts the new bridge between the Marquam Bridge to the north and the Ross Island Bridge to the south. The recommendation goes to the Project Steering Committee, made up of elected officials.
Final alignment approval is expected this summer, after which bridge design and engineering work would begin in earnest. Construction is tentatively scheduled for 2011-14. The bridge would go into service in 2015.
Many details must be sorted out before then.
Mariners are concerned that the bridge be high enough -- 75 feet above the water line is the working assumption -- to allow river traffic. They also say the channel in which they pass under the bridge should be aligned with other bridges, so boats and long barges in particular don't have to swerve back and forth to make passage.
Also at issue are the landings on either end, the location of pilings and the slope of the bridge.
The cost of the overall project, including the bridge, is estimated at $1.25 billion to $1.4 billion. Of that, $1 billion is known to be available. The federal government will provide up to $750 million, and the Oregon Legislature has allocated $250 million in state lottery bond money.
That leaves a local match of $250 million to $400 million, and Metro may provide $72 million toward that figure, said Richard Brandman, the regional government's deputy planning director.
The light-rail extension, nearly seven miles long, is a joint project of the cities of Portland, Milwaukie and Oregon City, Clackamas and Multnomah counties, TriMet, Metro and the Oregon Department of Transportation.
Previous proposed alignments for the bridge included one that would have swooped under the Marquam Bridge. That's been discarded in favor of an alignment that links what planners say could be Portland's science and technology quarter, in addition to providing mass transit to the fast-growing suburbs southeast of the city.
http://www.oregonlive.com/news/orego...700.xml&coll=7