FROM THE EDITOR

Getting a handle on the Sellwood Bridge process

By Eric Norberg

The Bee, Aug 1, 2007, Updated Oct 30, 2009

Courtesy of Multnomah County

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You have been reading about the ongoing meetings leading toward an eventual decision about whether the Sellwood Bridge is to be replaced or repaired, and if it is replaced, where it should be routed and how wide it should be. You may have found this confusing. Those of us who have attended these meetings and sat in on discussions have found the process a bit like trying to wrestle Jell-o. It’s kind of hard to get a good hard grip on what is actually happening.

Here’s an attempt to clarify.

To start with, the bridge is well past its life expectancy (by close to 30 years), and it is being compressed by an ancient landslide on its west end which creeps along and gradually causes the west ramp to buckle. Its condition is such that it now has a 10,000 pound weight limit per vehicle, which has precluded TriMet buses and fire engines from crossing it. The weight limit has stopped the continuing deterioration from heavy use, but the landslide is still creeping along. Something needs to be done.

After engineering studies, the owner of the bridge, Multnomah County, decided it would have to be replaced. However, it had no money to replace it with. And in searching around for funding sources, the federal government has emerged as a probable partner in this project — and it requires that no preconceived notions be held about what the solution to an old bridge should be. So, to qualify for federal funding, a process must be followed to determine from community sources as well as engineers what is wanted and needed. That is the process underway now. By next year it should have reached a conclusion.

This decision process began with the empanelment of a Citizens Advisory Committee, which is meeting monthly and gradually coming to a consensus, with assistance from engineers and studies provided by the county. There is strong sentiment for a new bridge to be added, in Clackamas County, between Sellwood and Oregon City, to handle the growing commuter traffic between Clackamas and Washington Counties, much of which now uses the Sellwood Bridge — the busiest bridge, per lane, in the entire state.

However — and this has not been easy to get across — much as such an additional bridge is needed, it is not a solution Multnomah County can provide, because Multnomah County can only build a bridge in Multnomah County! Clackamas County can build a new one in Clackamas County, but so far no agreement has been reached in that county as to where any new bridge should be built, and until there is, it won’t be built.

So, the Sellwood Bridge is the problem, and it has to stay in Multnomah County. Various “alignments” have been studied, but all of them — even just repairing the existing bridge — will have adverse effects on property, because when the bridge was built in the mid-1920s the budget for it was minimal, and the county did not buy any of the land the bridge is built upon. That’s why the bridge runs through a building’s roof on the east end, and why at least one of its support pillars is actually inside a building.

Because any and all of the discussed “alignments” will affect some property, there has been vigorous lobbying by various individuals and groups who will be affected by one or another of the alignments; most of it, alas, of the “put it anywhere but where it impacts me” variety. In the end the Citizens Advisory Committee will have to recommend a routing for the bridge which seems to be in the best interests of the community as a whole, whatever that may prove to be.

But, when the committee chooses it, the story is not ended. The Citizens Advisory Committee members, after having devoted over a year to this process, will make a recommendation to a county-level committee, and THAT committee will make the final decision — which may or may not be the same as the advisory committee presented to them.

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