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About The Southwest Portland Post. (Portland, Oregon) 2007-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 1, 2008)
NeWS November 2008 The Southwest Portland Post • 5 Pedestrian bridge leads list of South Waterfront transportation projects By Lee Perlman The Southwest Portland Post The future of the South Waterfront area was on the table, and poster boards, last month as the city exhibited and asked for public comment on some 68 transportation-related projects for the area. The transit, bike, pedestrian and motor vehicle projects ranged in scope from a proposal to install “wayfi nding” signs in the area to the $50 million South Portland Circulation alternatives sought by this community for 30 years. More than 100 people attended the session at David Evans and Associates’ auditorium and gave written and verbal comments. Art Pearce of the Portland Offi ce of Transportation told The Post that the input received would be tabu- lated and compared with the recom- mendations of staff and a stakeholder committee. After a few more meetings they would hope to have a fi nal set of rec- ommendations ready to present to City Council at a hearing December 10. The priority list so far includes eight bike and pedestrian projects, five transit projects and 13 traffi c improvements. The transit projects include shifting bus line #35, currently serving South- west Macadam Avenue, to Southwest Moody and Bond Avenue to more di- rectly serve the South Waterfront, and to improve service frequency and quality on the Portland Streetcar. Bike projects include the long-sought extension of the Willamette Greenway Trail through the area, completion of several critical bike connection im- provements at the west end of the Ross Island Bridge and elsewhere, and provi- sion of better bike parking facilities at the east Aerial Tram terminal. Traffi c projects include a new I-5 free- way off-ramp at Southwest Sheridan Street, extending Southwest Bond and Moody avenues northward to River Parkway, reconstructing Southwest Corbett Avenue between Sheridan Street and Kelly Avenue, and installing new traffi c signals at various intersec- tions. “We have cost estimates on most of these projects,” Pearce said. “The next step will be to devise a funding strategy to pay for them utilizing a variety of sources.” In addition to these proposals, the open house gave the public a view of several projects now in the pipeline. The Milwaukie light rail line will extend southward from Portland State Univer- sity to Southwest Porter Street, across a new transit bridge and southward through the inner east side. Additionally, the Corbett Avenue Traffi c Calming Project is soon to com- mence. In the design phase is the Gibbs Street Pedestrian Bridge that will run below the Oregon Health and Sciences University Aerial Tram between Moody and Kelly avenues. The city is now looking at three de- sign styles for the pedestrian bridge: Concrete Box Girder, Steel Box Girder, and Extradosed. The last seems to have the inside track based on favorable comments from a project advisory com- Having a holiday event or sale? Have a great gift idea? Advertise in The Post’s annual Holiday Guide Save 20% off the the open rate of any size display ad *1/16 page or larger. Includes design, space, color, position. Advertisers currently under contract should consider this an offer for a second ad. Deadline for space reservations is Friday, November 14. For more information, please contact Harry Blythe, Retail Advertising Manager, or Don Snedecor, Publisher, at 503-244-6933. mittee and from the Portland Design Commission which recently reviewed the project. All three would begin about 60 feet in the air above Moody Avenue, reach- able either by an elevator or a switch- back ramp. Planners originally hoped to have the east end begin at or near ground level, but for such a bridge to reach its terminus in Lair Hill, and pro- vide needed clearance over Macadam and I-5, it would have to have a steep fi ve percent grade that would make it exhausting to use. All three proposals would also ex- ceed the $7 million budgeted for the project, to the chagrin of the South Portland Neighborhood Association. Transportation chair Bill Danneman noted that City Commissioner Sam Adams had said, “There is absolutely no more money for this project. This makes me very nervous.” Referring to another South Portland project whose cost eventually climbed to nearly four times its original budget he said, “It’s Tram time again.” South Portland had extracted a re- luctant promise from Adams that any money left over from this project could be used to begin engineering for the South Portland Circulation Alterna- tives. Board member Jim Gardner said he would have preferred an earlier, plainer design “that could have actually been built.” South Portland also had doubts about the rerouting of Bus 35. Under question- ing by the group, TriMet planner Steve Kautz said the bus would proceed down Southwest Caruthers Street. Dan- neman angrily said that this “will take a terrible traffi c problem and exacerbate it.” South Portland land use chair Jim Davis said the maneuver would neces- sitate parking removal. Kautz replied, “If adjustments are needed, there’s plenty of time.”
