The Federal government is sending $20 million for a Portland bridge and for safer streets in Salem and Beaverton. A Multnomah County bridge will see the funds along with pedestrian-friendly street upgrades in Beaverton. The Oregon funding is a portion of more than $2.2 billion allocated nationally this year through a grant program funded by the bipartisan infrastructure law passed last fall.
Raimore Construction, a Black company in Oregon, has been a front and center in educating communities about the connection between construction and community economic growth. Raimore is a prime company working on the I-5 Rose Quarter Improvement Project.
In a recent statement, the federal government looks to also approach the upgrades as a part of how transportation projects would improve safety, accessibility, racial equity and economic growth. Oregon expects to receive more than $3.4 billion for roads and bridges over the next five years.
Most of the new money is going to the city of Salem to upgrade McGilchrist Street in south Salem. Local governments have already put $11 million toward reconstructing the road, according to a letter submitted to the Oregon Transportation Department, and they’ll receive $13.2 million from the federal government.
It will pay to improve about 8,500 feet of roadway, adding sidewalks, separated bike lanes, two creek crossings and a new traffic signal. The street is in the middle of a 468-acre underdeveloped light industrial area, and the project is one of several recommended for a $300 million bond Salem voters will consider in November.
Another $5 million will go to Multnomah County to plan a replacement of the 96-year-old Burnside Bridge, a five-lane, 2,241-feet-long bridge over the Willamette River in downtown Portland. According to the county, about 45,000 vehicles, 4,000 bicyclists and 2,000 pedestrians cross the bridge each day.
Experts say that the bridge is not prepared to withstand a major earthquake, and the county cited expert predictions of a one in three chance of a catastrophic earthquake in the next 50 years.
Safety will be built into the upgrades. For example, a rebuilt bridge will include wider bike lanes and sidewalks separated from vehicle traffic and be designed to withstand earthquakes. Tri-county voters in 2020 rejected a multibillion dollar transportation funding measure and payroll tax that would have included $150 million for the bridge replacement.
A couple million dollars will go to Beaverton to design safer streets in a downtown loop, with wider sidewalks, protected bike lanes, new bus stops and improved traffic signals. The loop encompasses the historic Old Town, a library, farmer’s market, city park and other downtown destinations.
The safety point is well taken. According to the city, people who walk or bike in the area have trouble with thousands of fast-moving cars and crossing two state highways and a set of railroad tracks. The altered streets are intended to reduce crashes and keep drivers, transit users, walkers and bikers safer.
