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| Coming Soon to the Sellwood Bridge |
The story goes that it was mostly Clackamas County residents who used the notoriously dangerous Sellwood Bridge. In fact, Clackamas County Chair Lyn Peterson should have known the numbers being discussed in public were phony since she was the one who did the original calculations in HER JOB AS A TRAVEL PLANNER FOR METRO.
But the story is worse than all that. It’s just the beginning of the conniving and corrupting of the process to get what the light rail mafia wants at the expense of motorists.
According to the report, the proposed funding structure for a new Sellwood Bridge would require the residents of Multnomah County and the city of Portland to pay more than 10 times as much as the residents of Clackamas County, even though Clackamas County accounted for three times as many trips across the bridge.
It was a startling statistic, played up prominently in The Oregonian story and editorial about the report.
Unfortunately, it was wrong. [emph added]
What Metro projections [by then Metro employee Lynn Peterson] actually show is that by 2030, 79 percent of trips across the bridge will start or end in Multnomah County and 76 percent of trips will begin or end in Clackamas County. This totals more that 100 percent because trips can begin or end in either county. [emph added]
In other words, Multnomah County residents use the bridge more than Clackamas County residents. Taken by itself you might think it was just a simple mistake, but with the manipulation of meetings (see previous post here) and behind the scenes dealing (see quotes below), one is left with the unmistakable (and based on history, accurate) impression that the Sellwood Bridge is a convenient device to excuse millions more spending on light rail and bike paths with motorists picking up the local tab.
Even the real study numbers by Peterson can’t be trusted because she crafted it to gin up the claim that four bridge lanes on a new Sellwood would increase traffic 15% and that Milwaukie Light Rail was needed in the corridor. It’s there in the same study. All by her as Metro’s “Travel forecaster”. 
Though government ratings put the bridge at close to failing, money is instead being spent to build bike paths on Highway 43 (probably resulting in the loss of a lane of traffic) (here), a light rail and pedestrian bridge across the Willamette, light rail plans from Portland to Sherwood (here), and the Milwaukie light rail extension at $250,000,000.00 a mile.
As current Oregon State Treasurer and former Multnomah County Chair, Ted Wheeler has said,
“Why on Earth would (they) [Clackamas and Washington Counties] invest in Multnomah County’s decades of neglect?”
Why, indeed? Especially when the plan includes so much more expense for street cars and bike paths. From a previous story in the Zero we see:
Local and state officials nailed down most of a plan for the bridge’s replacement last winter, except for the west side. The two-lane bridge will be replaced with a crossing that has two lanes — totaling 24 feet wide — for cars and 37 feet for bicycles and pedestrians.But they have added other elements.
For example, to mitigate taking a few acres of city parkland, the county will build an 18-foot bike-pedestrian path from Willamette Park to the bridge, allowing a smoother, handicapped-accessible alternative to a narrow path that encroaches on salmon habitat.
It also will replace some culverts with more salmon-friendly bridges over area creeks. The bridge has always been planned structurally to carry a streetcar line, but in recent months city officials have insisted that tracks be built from the start.That has added $5 million, but the county says the city’s $100 million will compensate for the change. A bridge/Tacoma Street streetcar line was recently included in a citywide streetcar master plan.
A recent poll done of Clackamas County residents, which included more democrats than republicans, shows the Milwaukie light rail extension, car tax, and Sellwood Bridge payments are wildly unpopular.
See part of the bridge/bike plan/light rail plan for yourself here.
In the meantime, plans are being made to make it even more difficult for cars to commute along Highway 43 where the ‘new and improved’ bridge will connect here:
Clackamas County is accepting bids from engineering consultants interested in brainstorming ways to add bike lanes on Highway 43 between Portland to Lake Oswego. With the highway constrained by hills on one side and the Willamette River on the other, the consultant selected won’t have an easy job.
Buehrig didn’t want to guess whether reducing travel lanes in some areas might emerge as a possible solution, but she said re-striping could be an option.
And, of course, Portland wants to use money for the bridge to use as it sees fits. Mayor Sam Adams wants Clackamas County taxpayers to pony up more because he wants to use Portland’s money for light rail and other planning projects:
Portland Mayor Sam Adams has hired an engineering consultant to find potential cost savings on Multnomah County’s $330 million Sellwood Bridge project — savings that Adams wants to shift to help fill the sizable funding gap that’s tripping up TriMet’s light rail project to Milwaukie.
Adams also wants the first $20 million in potential savings to go exclusively to Portland, with any money thereafter divided among participating governments.
Adams acknowledged feeling pinched financially, as the city of Portland is being pressed to nearly double its $30 million contribution to $55 million to help fill the shortfall for a proposed light-rail line to Milwaukie.
“I need to get both projects done,” he said.
No wonder Clackamas County taxpayers feels used. They’re being sold the Portland version of the Brooklyn Bridge. And their safety is being sold out. As a recent Oregonian commenter put it:
qashqai says:
“The Sellwood Bridge is a COLLAPSE HAZARD. It’s not just inconvenient, it’s DANGEROUS. In a decent-sized earthquake, everyone on it might die. That’s why we’re replacing it. By playing political games, Sam is risking hundreds of lives. Every time you cross it, cross your fingers, glance at the water, and think about Sam. This is an excellent example of why we urgently need a mayor who solves practical problems instead of promoting a private agenda. We need a new bridge ASAP, before people end up dead in the river.”
But, of course, Adams has used the bridge as a leverage for other pet projects:
[Wheeler] also said that Adams, in a private meeting, said he would support city funding for the bridge if Wheeler agreed to support a government-owned hotel next to the Oregon Convention Center, a project Adams supported. “To sit on it for six weeks and trade a vote on a completely unrelated project is unacceptable to me,” Wheeler said at the time.[emph added]
These conniving public officials cannot be trusted with anything, must be stopped and the rebellion in Clackamas County is the first real opportunity to do so.
