July 21, 2017

The Stakeholder Representative Group for the Earthquake Ready Burnside Bridge study will meet on Thursday, July 27 from 6 – 8 p.m. at the Multnomah Building, Room 315, 501 SE Hawthorne Blvd., Portland. The meeting is open to the public and includes time for public comment.

Multnomah County is in the early stage of a feasibility study that will be completed in the fall of 2018. The study will examine options to create a resilient lifeline crossing over the Willamette River in the event of a major earthquake. Providing a way to get across the Willamette River after an earthquake will be critical for emergency response, reuniting families, and helping our community recover. 

The committee was recruited to review and provide input on the study findings and outreach plans. The group’s input will advise the project team as they work through the process of narrowing a long list of Willamette River crossing concepts to a short list of feasible alternatives that will be studied in a future National Environmental Policy Act planning phase.

The agenda for the group’s second meeting includes:

  • A project update
  • Briefing on the initial alternatives screening process and results
  • Schedule review

Committee members are from groups representing nearby neighborhoods, business districts, freight, autos, pedestrians, bicyclists, the environment, bridge history, and organizations based near the bridge.

There are several transit options near the Multnomah Building, including Portland Streetcar (PSU via Pearl), Stop ID: 13616 and TriMet buses #6, 4, 10, 14, 15, Stop ID: 3633, 2643. The Multnomah Building garage closes at 6 p.m., but there is available on-street parking.

The project is currently seeking public input through a short online survey at: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/erbb1. For more information, visit www.burnsidebridge.org. Meeting materials will be posted to the website after the meeting.