Chris Smith Bridges Portland's Past and Future

Today Portland City Council candidate and long time citizen advocate Chris Smith reaffirmed his support of a plan to relocate the Sauvie Island Bridge center span to a new site in Northwest Portland on the Flanders Street Bikeway.

The proposal calls for the bridge to be relocated to NW Flanders Street between 15th and 16th Avenues and retooled to accommodate pedestrian and bicycle traffic over the I-405 freeway.

Testifying before City Council last week, Smith called this a “defining choice to demonstrate our real commitment to sustainability”.

Reusing the existing structure avoids the greenhouse gas contribution of manufacturing steel and concrete for a new bridge. One estimate suggests that the construction of the existing bridge may have involved up to 1.5 million pounds of CO2 embedded in its manufacturing processes. “This project tests our commitment to re-use as a strategy to both reduce global warming and avoid unnecessary use of energy,” said Smith.

“Safety of our citizens is a primary concern,” Mr. Smith explained. “The Northwest bikeways plan was one of the first transportation projects I ever worked on as an activist. There are no safe bike crossings of the freeway between SW Alder and NW Johnson, both Everett and Glisan are high-speed, busy streets that are not attractive to any but the most experienced cyclists. Both streets also have signifi­cant ‘right hook’ accident risks for cyclists due to the freeway on-ramps.” (A right hook crash occurs when a motor vehicle turns right across the path of a cyclist.)

“In the last decade, over 3,000 citizens of Portland have been killed or seriously injured on our streets. That’s unacceptable. Projects like this bridge are the way we will make our transportation system much safer.” Smith added.

“I understand that this project is more expensive than the minimum requirements for a bicycle and pedestrian bridge. But I’ve seen the concepts for the bridge critics say can be built for less,” Smith acknowledged, “and the two bridges aren't the same.”

“The Sauvie Island Bridge would provide a 30 foot right-of-way while a new bridge is only required to provide 15 feet,” Smith pointed out. “Re-using the existing bridge will create an iconic ‘place’ on this corridor, rather than a merely adequate crossing.”

Smith concluded, “This project focuses on sustainability and we are reusing a piece of Portland history. I think this is a win-win for Portlanders, in line with their values and well worth it. I will be working with leaders in the environmental and cycling communities over the coming weeks to build support for this project, and I hope that City Council will not pass up this unique opportunity.”