MEMORANDUM
Date: October 30, 2018
To: Portland Design Commission
From: Arthur Graves, Land Use Services | 503.823.7803
Re: Burnside Bridge: Earthquake Readiness
October 18, 2018 – Briefing by Megan Neill (Multnomah County), Mike Pullen (Multnomah County), Heather Catron (HDR Inc.)
This is the first briefing of the Burnside Bridge: Earthquake Readiness to the Design Commission.
Below is a summary of comments and responses provided by the Design Commission in response to the project as presented on October 18, 2018.
• One commissioner asked if a movable bridge was more vulnerable in a seismic event than a fixed bridge.
o Response: The way design criteria is being defined both bridge types (fixed and movable) are intended to be immediately available after a major earthquake. Proposed bridges are being designed to seismic criteria standards higher than current seismic code.
• One commissioner asked if (referencing Power Point slide 9 of the applicant’s presentation) the “Enhanced Seismic Retrofit” would meet the same seismic criteria as the other options.
o Response: Yes, the “Enhanced Seismic Retrofit” option will have to meet the same seismic criteria as the “Replacement” options.
• One commissioner asked if (referencing Power Point slides 9 and 16 of the applicant’s presentation) due to the impacts to the surrounding areas and significant difference in cost of the “Replacement: Fixed Bridge” and “Replacement: NE Couch Connection” the options could be simplified to the “Enhanced Seismic Retrofit” design.
o Response: The “Enhanced Seismic Retrofit” is the low-cost solution, however, we will be asking the public over the next three years what they would like out of the tax payer dollars.
• One commissioner asked if the “Enhanced Seismic Retrofit” option would require higher maintenance costs.
o Response: Yes, presumably the “Enhanced Seismic Retrofit” does come with higher life-cycle costs than the other options. Although detailed numbers have not been calculated at this time.
• One commissioner asked how the final design will be selected. And will it be a public process?
o Response: It will be a public process. The look of the proposed new bridge will not be specifically addressed in the next three years. Within the “Design Phase” a bridge type study will be conducted to determine more design specifics, i.e. if a movable bridge, is a Bascule bridge type (similar to the current Burnside Bridge) preferred or a vertical lift (similar to the current Hawthorne Bridge), etc.
• One commissioner asked when the design of the proposed bridge would need to come back to the Design Commission.
o Response (from Commissioner Livingston): Once the “Environmental Review” phase is complete and the “Design” phase begins, most likely, a joint effort between the Design Commission and the Portland Historic Landmarks Commission (PHLC) will take place. In the meantime (during the NEPA process) the Design Commission would piggyback on the requests and process of the PHLC. Possibly a briefing prior to the draft report to daylight issues. Possibly another briefing at the end of the NEPA process, before the final document is submitted.
• One commissioner reiterated that Design Commission would support and follow the same path as the PHLC.
• One commissioner asked how the city infrastructure Bureaus (PBOT, BES, BDS, BPS, etc.) will be engaged.
o Response: An IGA (inter-governmental agreement) is currently being worked on to formalize this relationship. In addition, over the last two years city staff have attended regular project management meetings, senior agency staff meetings, as well as the policy group meetings, also several focus work groups have been identified as needing to happen during the NEPA phase.
• One commissioner asked about PHLC requests for check-ins during the NEPA process.
o Response (by senior staff): PHLC requested a briefing during the draft EIS phase when actual properties that could be impacted have been identified.
o It was suggested by Commissioner Livingston that perhaps the first joint briefing to the Design Commission and Portland Historic Landmarks Commission could take place for this briefing.
Please contact me with any questions or concerns. Thank you.