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June 16, 2006
Sauvie Island Bridge Headed for the Scrap Heap
Word just in from Commissioner Sam Adams' office that efforts to move the Sauvie Island Bridge to NW Portland to complete a bikeway on Flanders Street over I-405 are being dropped. The Commissioner's office indicates that community response was not sufficient to justify the extra cost of moving the bridge (rather than constructing a smaller-but-to-code new bike/ped bridge).
Translation: private donors did not step up.
I'm sad. It would have been a very cool thing, very much in tune with our community's ethic of reuse in the interests of sustainability.
If you feel strongly, contact Sam ASAP. Preferrably with cash-in-hand.
Posted by Chris Smith at 2:42 PM
Comments
June 16, 2006 8:26 PM
Isaac Says:
I thought it was ugly and unfitting for the neighborhood. It is possible to take reuse too far.
June 17, 2006 4:29 PM
adron Says:
ditto Isaac.
I wasn't too stoked about the idea either. It was a neat idea, but it seemed to be far more wasteful to spend the money on something that would most likely be an eye sore than to just build something that people would like...
or...
...just not build anything. Seems there are plenty of ways to get over I-405.
...then of course...
...we could always just start working on covering or eliminating I-405. It's such a nasty branch of the interstate. It'd probably do even more to increase the land value downtown and grow the area. Imagine all that regained land!!!
June 20, 2006 7:37 PM
Justin Says:
Actually, I love the fact that it keeps housing prices in check in Northwest Portland. Without it, I wonder where studio apartment rates would be at... $3000 a month, anyone? Right now it is such a great place to live because it is affordable.
With proper soundproofing, freeway noise isn't that big of an issue.
June 22, 2006 11:39 PM
mykle Says:
just a note that the Oregonian covered this issue today, 4-22, describing it as a still-undecided project -- i.e. it's not too late for the enthusiastic to attempt to rally support. i guess the issue is the 1.5 million projected cost difference between moving this bridge and building a new one.
Since people build bridges more than they move them, i'm inclined to trust the builders' estimates a bit more than the movers'. but if they build it and the cost goes over 5 mil, the save-the-bridge contingent will be pissed, and rightly so. recycling is supposed to be what Portland's good at.
as for eliminating I-405: i heard of a plan floating around in the Katz era to cover 405 almost complete, thereby gaining a long swath of pricey pearl-district real estate, which the city would sell/lease to pay for the project. This was in the Katz era. What happened to that?
