The first meeting of the new Multnomah County Board of Commissioners featured a farewell briefing about one of the county’s largest projects of the past decade: the replacement of the Sellwood Bridge.
“We’re 99.9 percent done with construction,” county transportation director and Sellwood Bridge program manager Ian Cannon explained to the board, which includes three new commissioners. “My son who is in college now was in elementary school when we started this project.”
The briefing included project history and a summary of accomplishments and statistics, from apprenticeship hours worked to the final cost estimate.
Cannon reflected on how much has been achieved. “In 2003 when cracks were found in the old bridge, we had no idea how we were going to pay to fix the bridge.” He said that the project’s commitment to an open, transparent public process and a collaborative funding approach helped create momentum to push the project from an unfunded problem to a completed new bridge.
Mike Baker of David Evans and Associates, the project owner’s representative, noted that “the project has created a lot of family wage jobs.” More than 300 apprentices worked more than 139,000 total hours on the project, earning journey worker status as carpenters, electricians, equipment operators, iron workers, and other trades. “The project’s total workforce included 28% minority employees, which exceeded our goal, and 13% females, which was slightly under our goal,” Baker reported.
In addition to creating jobs, the project also strengthened hundreds of local businesses, including many owned by women, minorities and new business owners. “The project included 276 sub contracts,” Baker explained. “Nearly 50% of those went to Disadvantaged Minority Women and Emerging Small Business (DMWESB) firms, totaling more than $46 million in contracts.”
Baker noted that the project came in a little over budget. “Our projected total cost estimate is currently $325.1 million, which is about 5.7 per cent above our 2012 pre-construction estimate.”
Speaking to project accomplishments, Ian Cannon noted that “we’ve been innovative from the start. Innovations included our public involvement tools, the Construction Manager/General Contractor project delivery method, moving the bridge, and pursuing Green Roads certification for the project’s sustainability features.” Mike Baker said the project had received the American Council for Engineering Companies “project of the year” award the previous night.
“We ended up with something that will be an asset to the community for 100 to 150 years,” Cannon said. He ended the briefing by comparing an architect’s early drawing of the bridge with a nearly identical photo of the completed bridge.
“I appreciate the project model you built for us based on collaboration and community involvement,” said new District 1 Commissioner Sharon Meieran.
Cannon said he looked forward to working with the new board on the county’s next major bridge project, which is focused on ensuring the Burnside Bridge can survive a major earthquake.
