Sellwood Bridge design changes protested – then reversed

Published 12:00 am Wednesday, August 1, 2012

Heading into the July 9 Sellwood Bridge Community Advisory Committee (CAC), long-time members like Heather Nelson Koch reached out to neighbors to express concern about the project’s just-announced budget and proposed design changes.

As it turned out, her apprehension was well-founded.

At that meeting, Multnomah County’s design team learned that estimated cost of rebuilding the Sellwood Bridge had ballooned by about $30 million — rising from an estimated $269 million at the 60% design phase stage reached last September — to $299 million.

With the project originally “fully funded” at $269 million, CAC members were told that millions of dollars in cuts to the project now needed to be made to bring the project in at a $299 million price tag.

One of the most startling and least popular proposed changes was new bridge’s cross-section:

The other controversial proposal was to gain more than $2 million in savings by eliminating the west-end “Multi-Use Path Bridge” that would give pedestrians and cyclists easy access to either side of the bridge. (The asymmetric design was a plan to eliminate the need for this access bridge.)

Other “value engineering” proposals deemed needed, to limit the increase in construction cost to $299 million, included:

Although these proposed changes were scheduled to go before the project’s multi-agency Public Stakeholder Committee only a week later, on July 16 — with their decisions be taken into consideration when the Multnomah County Board of Commissioners met to vote the budget and proposal on July 19 — the CAC was not asked to vote on the recommendations. They did prepare a memo to the project management.

After that meeting, CAC member Koch told THE BEE her key concern was that, at first glance, the asymmetric design and loss of the Multi-use Path Bridge could cause “safety issues for all users”.

She added, “It is disappointing that features are being cut. Even in times of austerity, we want to build a bridge that we are going to be proud of for 100 years.”

About the process, Koch said, “I was concerned that we were presented these changes at one relatively- brief meeting. There was not time for people to digest this, or comment on it. We’d like to have the time to have more ideas and do more problem-solving before things are prematurely cut. But, I’m optimistic that the county will take the time to listen to the stakeholders.”

After the “value engineering” project cuts were presented at the July 16 Public Stakeholder Committee (PSC), neighbors testified against the asymmetric design, elimination of the Multi-use Path Bridge, and the loss of the “southern view from the Sellwood Bridge of Clackamas County”.

When a simple “up or down” vote on all proposed changes stalled, the Multnomah County Commissioner on the project, Deborah Kafoury, announced, “From talking with many of you and listening to our partners, both public and private … it doesn’t look like we’re going to be coming to a consensus on the asymmetric design today.

“What I have learned from our project team is that it’s more important to make a decision today,” Kafoury continued, “than it is to postpone this decision, and study it more. [If this decision is delayed] we’ll lose the cost savings that we would get from moving to the asymmetrical design.”

Portland Mayor Sam Adams, who had been quietly taking in the proceedings, then spoke up.

“I don’t understand why you’re proposing such a radical change at the last minute,” Adams sternly commented.

Kafoury replied, “We have heard … from people who actually do like the asymmetrical design better. This is something that was studied early on in the project.”

Adams protested that the asymmetrical design saved only $300,000. “And, it’s eliminating all the bike and pedestrian access [to the south side].”

Kafoury commented that removing the Multi-use Path Bridge from the project would save nearly $2 million.

Adams shot back, “I’m suffering from whiplash here; having just learned on Friday you’re going to be proposing this asymmetrical design today.

“I know how much ‘Portland process’ means to you. I’m left wondering where this leaves us. I want to talk to the contractors. Today! I want to talk to them today, before I consider the motion further,” Adams continued.

The Mayor went on, “This is a lot of ‘swings’. I’m having to cut the city’s transportation budget to absorb these additional costs. The county is not going to cut any of its transportation budget to absorb any of these additional costs.”

Looking first directly at Kafoury, then at project manager Ian Cannon, Adams continued, “This is the largest single project of my eight years, in terms of money and investment, [serving as Portland’s] Transportation Commissioner. And, you want us to vote on this — today. And your [Board of] Commissioners are going to vote on it on Thursday. This is whiplash! I’m really concerned. It concerns me about the overall project.”

Adams concluded, “I’m in support of keeping the design the people worked on for six years. We’re a major partner on this.”

After more discussion, Kafoury responded, “We don’t need to take a formal vote, is my understanding. Is there a consensus of the group regarding rest of the pieces?”

Adams spoke up, “I’d like to see votes from all the advisory groups. We’ve got to start having some — let’s say, accountability — on this project.”

The Multnomah County Board of Commissioners took the Public Stakeholder Committee’s discussion under advisement when they considered the matter on July 19.

Voting on “Scope of the Project”, the Board of Commissioners decided to retain the originally planned symmetric cross-section of the bridge, and to go ahead and build the Multi-Use Path Bridge — but to make the other suggested project design adjustments.

THE BEE asked project spokesman Mike Pullen to clarify several points.

About the Board of Commissioners’ decision, he said, “Now that we have a contractor in place and design team of engineers working, if we stop the project to debate anything, it adds about $1 million per month to the cost.

“The Commissioners decided it would be more efficient to pull out two of the savings proposals [people were objecting to] than spend months debating it — which would have used up those savings caused by the delay.”

Regarding the “ballooning budget”, as some have characterized it, Pullen pointed out that the project cost was estimated at $330 million at the end of the planning phase. “We did a several things to save money that brought the cost down to $269 Million at the ‘60% Design’ phase in September.”

The increased costs now, he said, are due to:

About 70% of the work will be done by subcontractors, Pullen explained. When faced with making actual bids, as contractors evaluate the complexity of the work, and react to the design documents, the cost has gone up. This has been frustrating for us.

About finding additional funding, Pullen said, Were benefiting from historically-low bond interest rates; the planners estimated for them to be considerably higher. This means well likely be able to cover the Countys side of the budget without raising the Vehicle Registration Fee.

He pointed out that the City of Portland will also benefit from low bond rates.

Finally, answering concerns that the traffic control signal on S.E. Tacoma Street at 6th Avenue could be eliminated, Pullen responded, The project includes a new full traffic signal at that intersection. The new signal will be adjusted to limit cut-through traffic during peak commute hours, which we know is a concern to many neighbors.

The project continues, as contractors drive piles deep into the riverbed near the eastern shore.

For more information, or to see illustrations of the proposed changes and alterations, visit the projects official Internet website: HYPERLINK “http://www.sellwoodbridge.org” www.sellwoodbridge.org