Sellwood Bridge planning meeting tomorrow

Jim Redden in the Trib highlight’s issues for tomorrow’s Open House meeting discussing potential alternatives for improvement of the Sellwood Bridge. The official notice, with bold emphasis added, from Michael Pullen in the Public Affairs Office of Multnomah County says:

“A drop-in open house will be held for the Sellwood Bridge project on Wednesday, July 25 from 6:00 pm to 9:00 pm at the Sellwood Middle School gymnasium, 8300 SE 15th Avenue. The entrance is on SE Umatilla Street. The location is served by TriMet bus lines #41-Tacoma and #70-12th Avenue.

More than 100 possible bridge alternatives are being considered, based on combinations of bridge alignments, widths and interchanges. Many of the alternatives feature concepts suggested by the public. The meeting will share information on how well the alternatives perform against measures chosen by the project’s Community Task Force. The measures include characteristics such as numbers of residences or businesses relocated, travel time, cost, and noise.

The public can provide feedback on which alternatives should advance. Public input will be considered by the Community Task Force and a committee of elected officials. In October, the task force will recommend and the committee will select four alternatives for more detailed analysis.

Open house participants will have an opportunity to build their own bridge alternative, combining their preferred alignment, bridge width, and interchange, and learn about its impacts and cost. The “build a bridge” tool also will be available on the project website beginning July 30. The public is encouraged to use the tool to learn about the various options before taking an online survey where they can recommend alternatives that should be advanced. The online survey will be available on the project website from July 30 through September 9.

A preferred alternative is scheduled to be selected in spring 2008 after the Draft Environmental Impact Statement is completed.

The current project will identify a long-term solution for the Sellwood Bridge, which may include rehabilitating or replacing the 81-year-old structure. Multnomah County maintains the Sellwood Bridge and more than 300 miles of roads and bridges.”