Earthquake Ready Burnside Bridge Policy Group to vote on preferred alternative

September 25, 2020

A group of elected and appointed policy makers from the region who oversee Multnomah County’s Earthquake Ready Burnside Bridge project will meet on Friday, October 2 from 10 am to 12 noon to recommend a preferred alternative for the project. The meeting will be held virtually and can be viewed online at http://bit.ly/BurnsidePG.

The Policy Group is co-chaired by Multnomah County Chair Deborah Kafoury and Commissioner Jessica Vega Pederson. It makes recommendations to Multnomah County, which owns the bridge, and to the Federal Highway Administration, which must approve the project’s final environmental study.

The agenda for the meeting includes:

  • An update on project progress since the group’s last meeting in October 2019
  • Review input received during 2020 outreach efforts on a recommended preferred alternative
  • Review Community Task Force recommendation on a preferred alternative
  • Seek approval on the recommended preferred alternative
  • Review Bridge Type Selection Phase process

A new long span Burnside Bridge could have an arch design.
On September 21 the project’s Community Task Force recommended that a new Long Span bridge with a movable lift span be built and that no detour bridge be built for temporary use during construction. Task force members cited these reasons for recommending the Long Span alternative:

  • Best for seismic resilience because it has the fewest columns in unstable soils
  • Lowest cost (at an estimated $825 million)
  • Enhances or preserves community spaces under the bridge
  • Least impacts to natural resources
  • Safer for bicyclists and pedestrians

The public can submit comments to be shared at the meeting. To submit a comment, email it to burnsidebridge@multco.us by 5 pm on Thursday, October 1. A recording of the meeting will be posted to the project website Library the week after the meeting. Meeting materials are available on the project website.

Multnomah County’s Board of Commissioners will consider and vote on the Policy Group’s recommendation on October 29. In January the public will be able to review and comment on the project’s Draft Environmental Impact Statement. The Federal Highway Administration will be asked to approve the Final Environmental Impact Statement in fall 2021. Design and construction will follow.

The purpose of the project is to create a seismically resilient Burnside Street lifeline crossing of the Willamette River that will remain fully operational and accessible for vehicles and other modes of transportation immediately following a major Cascadia Zone earthquake.

For more information, visit www.burnsidebridge.org. Multnomah County maintains the Burnside Bridge and leads the Earthquake Ready Burnside Bridge project.