Good news today for those considering serving on a Multnomah County advisory committee: your input matters.
As we explained last week, after six years of public process led to a well-vetted and well-liked Sellwood Bridge design, Multnomah County proposed a new, considerably different one just weeks before the Public Stakeholder Committee (PSC)* was asked to vote on a final design. The new proposal came with very few details — for example, this was the only drawing staffers shared of the design for the west end of the bridge:
The reason for the last-minute change? A supposed savings of $2 million. However, in the face of tough questions from Mayor Adams about the roughly $70 million “swing” of cuts plus new spending, that reasoning became difficult to justify.
After testimony from the Sellwood Bridge Community Advisory Committee (CAC) and public comment from the Multnomah County Bike and Pedestrian Committee, community members, and the Bicycle Transportation Alliance, it became clear that nobody was pleased with the last-minute nature of these changes.
In the BTA’s testimony, we offered the PSC two potential courses of action:
Option 1: Delay today’s vote and require Multnomah County to set a reasonable timeline for seeking input from stakeholders on their new design.
Option 2: Vote to implement the balanced plan described in the City of Portland Inter-Governmental Agreement — the plan that resulted from 6 years of award-winning process.
After hearing tough questions from the public and PSC members, particularly Mayor Adams and Metro Councilor Collette, the county put the original community-supported, balanced bridge design back on the table. The motion to recommend that plan carried unanimously. County Commissioners are scheduled to vote on the PSC’s recommendation this Thursday.
*The Public Stakeholders Committee is made up of Multnomah County Chair Jeff Cogen, County Commissioner Deborah Kafoury, Portland Mayor Sam Adams, Milwaukie Mayor Jeremy Ferguson, Metro Councilor Carlotta Collette, TriMet General Manager Neil McFarlane, State Senator Diane Rosenbaum, State Rep. Carolyn Tomei, ODOT Region 1 Manager Jason Tell, and Federal Highway Administration representative Phillip Ditzler.
Three cheers for the BTA, WPC, TriMet and others who made sure the public’s voices were not only heard, but considered and understood by our community’s leaders. I’m thrilled to see the PSC stand by community members and I hope the Commissioners do the same on Thursday.
Ditto, on Will’s comment.
I applaud the hard work and representation. Thanks. However, please forgive me for saying, but the 3D rendering of the symmetrical design (included in BTA newsletter 7/26) seems to repeat the mistakes of the Burnside Bridge bike lanes. Building a bike lane in the gutter of vehicle traffic makes for dangerous conditions. Drainage grates, debris, splashing from fast moving tires make crossing the Burnside Bridge very difficult. Yes these wide lanes probably feel like a big improvement over the current Sellwood Bridge condition, but I’ve a felt that bikes and pedestrians have a better relationship to share the riding/walking surface, like the Hawthorne and Broadway Bridge examples. I’m quite new to this Sellwood project, and would be interested to hear if raised bike lanes were considered in the process, or any other feedback.
BTA,
Many thanks for your persisting with this issue to keep the design the best possible for bicyclists. With the new bridge, there will certainly be many more bicyclists commuting over it and along the west side of the ride to downtown.
I hope you work with the Parks Dept to get them to improve the pathway from the bridge to SW Boundary Street which will also see a big increase in cyclists.
Bruce Kindler