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-
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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.”