Need to Know: Emergency Evacuation Route Bridges Need Repair

As a candidate running to represent North and Northeast Portland, I have had to educate myself on a diverse number of important issues facing our local communities. Whether these issues relate to affordable housing, safety and livability, or environmental justice, they all directly relate to the district and have passionate advocates working tirelessly on improving their communities.

One issue that is particularly important to the residents of North Portland is the failing bridge infrastructure that acts as the designated emergency evacuation route for the north peninsula. Earlier this week, the St. Johns Neighborhood Association hosted a representative from Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT) to give an update to the community on the status of replacement for four bridges that span the railroad tracks “the cut” that bisects the area.

An interesting fact to note about these bridges, they are all owned by BNSF Railway. Per an agreement with City Council dating back to 1908, BNSF was given the ownership of the bridges with fairly vague requirements for maintenance and upkeep. The mayor at the time vetoed the original plan, but was eventually overridden by the City Council. He predicted that the railway would fail to maintain upkeep and we would be in a position of failing infrastructure without the resources to pay for them.

The only bridge that is currently under consideration or repair is located at the intersection of Columbia Blvd and N Portland Rd. The city has paid for an initial assessment of the project, including a reworking of the intersection and grading for what is technically two separate bridges.  I’ve included some photos from the presentation. You can see that the eastbound entrance will be re-routed and a new bike/pedestrian friendly section will be added to the south side of Columbia Blvd. That is actually a very positive aspect of this project, as that particular area of Columbia Blvd is extremely dangerous currently.

The overall cost of this bridge replacement is estimate to be $57.5 million. In order for the City to apply for Federal matching funds, they will need to come up with at least 20% of the cost, or approximately $11.5 million. Alternatively, the State could step in and provide funding, which would make sense given the importance of this route both for community safety, but also for the commercial traffic that benefits the entire state economy.

While it hasn’t been officially studied, PBOT estimates the replacement costs for the remaining three bridges owned by BNSF to be approximately $37 million each. One of those bridges (along Willamette) is already weight restricted, and it is anticipated that the others will reach that point in the near future. There is also the added complication that the bridge along Lombard St. is owned by Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT).

The bridges over “the cut” are a perfect example of our city’s current crisis of deferred maintenance. Things have gotten so bad that I’ve been told PBOT leaders are hesitant to take on any new capital projects, knowing that they simply DO NOT have the funds to maintain them in the future.

As for the bridges, our leaders need to start problem solving. Items to consider include:

·        Can we access funding from the State?

·        How can we hold BNSF accountable for maintenance?

·        What does future ownership of these bridges look like?

I am confident we can make significant progress on these issues with the right community activism and local leadership. I’ve already begun engaging State Representatives in the region and have been working with members of the community to build local support.

As a city, we need to look at how we are funding the maintenance and upkeep of our critical infrastructure. It’s surprising to hear, but PBOT actually owns and maintains over 150 bridges across the city. We cannot continue to ignore our growing backlog of deferred maintenance and expect there not to be significant consequences in the future.

For more information on this subject you can follow https://www.facebook.com/groups/nopoemergencyroute

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