A group of elected and appointed policy makers from the region who oversee Multnomah County’s Earthquake Ready Burnside Bridge project will meet on Monday, October 28 from 3 to 5 pm in the Multnomah Building’s first floor boardroom at 501 SE Hawthorne Blvd. The meeting is open to the public and includes time for public comment.
The Policy Group is co-chaired by Multnomah County Chair Deborah Kafoury and Commissioner Jessica Vega Pederson. It makes recommendations to Multnomah County, which owns the bridge, and to the Federal Highway Administration, which must approve the final environmental study.
The agenda for the meeting includes:
- An update on project progress since the group’s last meeting in June 2019
- A report on input received from summer/fall outreach efforts
- Seek approval on the Range of Alternatives to study in the Environmental Impact Statement
- Seek approval on the Evaluation Criteria that will be used to help inform the selection of a preferred bridge retrofit or replacement alternative
Multnomah County’s Board of Commissioners will consider the Policy Group’s recommendations for a vote on November 14. After that, Multnomah County will file a Notice of Intent to the Federal Highway Administration to formally begin the project’s environmental phase. That phase will identify the preferred alternative, which is expected to be recommended by the county in 2020 and confirmed by the Federal Highway Administration in 2021. Design and construction will follow.
The purpose of the project is to create a seismically resilient Burnside Street lifeline crossing of the Willamette River that will remain fully operational and accessible for vehicles and other modes of transportation immediately following a major Cascadia Zone earthquake.
For more information, visit www.burnsidebridge.org or follow us on Twitter @MultCoBridges. Meeting materials are posted to the website following meetings. Multnomah County maintains the Burnside Bridge and leads the Earthquake Ready Burnside Bridge project.