Sellwood Bridge design approved; construction is next step

By KATU.com Staff Published: Jul 19, 2012 at 12:57 PM PDT

PORTLAND, Ore. – The planning phase is officially over for the Sellwood Bridge project. Next up: construction.

Multnomah County commissioners approved the final design on Thursday, meaning construction crews can now move forward with building the $299 million bridge over the Willamette River.

A county spokesman said the bridge will include the following features:

Steel deck arch bridge
A symmetrical bridge deck design with two traffic lanes, two bike lane/shoulders, and two multi-use raised paths for bicyclists and pedestrians
One-stage bridge construction using a detour bridge
New access to Macadam Bay floating homes on the south side of Freeman Motors
Westside regional trail along trolley line from bridge to S.W. Miles Place
Limited bridge closure during construction

The final design will cost about $30 million more than the original price tag. Portland mayor Sam Adams had complained about the higher price tag because the city will have to foot one third of the bill.

"The fact that, you know, they're coming to us, asking for $11 million more dollars means I will have to make budget cuts in the Portland Bureau of Transportation," Adams said on Wednesday. "Very disappointing, very frustrating."

County officials said the price of materials, having to deal with contaminated soil under Highway 43 and construction challenges along the hillside on the west bank all contributed to the increased costs.

“Our challenge is making sure we have a bridge that will last on beyond all of our lives and is worthy of the work, and at the same time balances scarce public resources,” said county chairman Jeff Cogen. “It’s not an easy balance but I think today we have made the right decision.”

The bridge is expected to open to traffic in 2015. All work should wrap up by early 2016, county officials said.

You can follow the latest on the Sellwood Bridge project on the project website, sellwoodbridge.org.

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19 comments

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OCJohn

I wish they could get a simple elegant design for CRC and quit spending money on everything but construction.

ShallowEnder

1 Like

The same pukes who are whining about the cost and the "overruns" are those who would wet themselves in righteous anger at the government if the existing bridge collapsed without work being done to replace it.

dblshot

1 Like

Who cares who's what agency the money is coming from, you're all robbing us blind. Â It's like asking if you would rather be punched with the left or right fist.

PortSCUM

Cause Portland needs another bridge. Why not just pave over the river itself? Downtown looks disgusting with all the bridges that NOBODY uses.Â

Orbit

1 Like

Â @PortSCUMÂ I have no idea what you're talking about. People use the bridges all the time.

I812

1 Like

The Columbia River Crossing group could learn from this design effort.Â It is a clean, functional, attractive bridge that will hopefully serve for 100 years or more.Â It would have been nice to do something more elaborate with 4 vehicle lanes and separate exits for north and south on the west end but the east end street system doesn't support four lanes.Â The current economic times also call for simplicity and functionality.Â Now get on with building it.

AmiM

This is truly shocking news. Another huge project, funded by the taxpayers, rammed up our, er, crammed down our throats.. OVER budget! Color me surprised.

John Hopkins

There's a light at the Morrison Bridge, on MLK, where there actually isn't an intersection. Sounds like the Portland Transportation Bureau has too much money anyway.