Multnomah County is proposing some changes to the plan for the new Sellwood Bridge in Portland. The new design would affect how bikes and pedestrians get across the river.
An "asymmetrical" plan for the Sellwood Bridge would have most bike and pedestrian traffic on one side of the bridge. Image courtesy Multnomah County.
Project managers are tweaking the bridge design to try to cut costs. The new design would put all cyclists and pedestrians on the north side of the bridge, instead of having bike lanes on either side of car traffic.
"It's still the same square footage for bikes and pedestrians as in the old design, it's just shifted to the north side. By doing that we can save about $2.3 million," says Multnomah County spokesman Mike Pullen.
But some bicycle advocates want to review the proposal before it moves forward. Gerik Kransky with the Bicycle Transportation Alliance says having bikes and pedestrians on one side of the bridge might work just fine.
"Our primary concern is that we're moving to a decision too quickly, and we would appreciate a longer timeline to review the technical design of the project. Details about how bicycles navigate traffic on the east end of the bridge just aren't clear yet," Kransky says.
The public is invited to weigh in during a Multnomah County Commission meeting on Thursday.
More information:
Sellwood Bridge Project Website
