Nice propaganda.

I think the "big pipe" can accomodate this whole project.

Flush 'em, Dan-o!

"...many smart people say...."

AAARGH! Make the pain stop...put a bird on it!

many smart people?

Transalation: Many anti-voter, heavily politicized and self interested fools and racketeers.

If two 14 foot (28feet) ped/bike sidewalks is OK for this bridge why does the Sellwood bridge need 37 feet?

The very idea that this project is already underway is appalling to the max (pun intended, unfortunately).

The verier idea that TriMet sees fit to produce such crap and foist it upon the thousands who don't want it in the first place is abominable, over the top and completely unacceptable.

Gawd help us!

More episodes of BridgeView with DeAnn Sandberg...can't wait.

Damn, she's shrill.

Portland is undergoing a major product redesign to appeal to a different consumer base.

Put that on a permanent loop in Gitmo and every bad actor there will cop to kidnapping the Lindbergh baby and any other notorious act since then.

Insulting. Of course, maybe it isn't to the group Grumpy sees in the future PDX.

Anyone curious about the category it is listed in?

Nonprofits & Activism

I suspect one could argue that it fits in neither category and should flag it for removal for offensive content.

I listened to Metro Councilor Carlotta Collette blather on about her enamor over this bridge being the first and only one of its kind in the country.

This perceived or concocted value in being the first or only one is asinine and a fine example of the cult-like worshippers of RailVolution.

WES was praised the same way for it's going to be first suburb to suburb commuter rail.

It still is, but the praise is no more. Instead the congregation is talking about adding light rail to the WES area.

This new MLR bridge is like a Holy Grail on the altar of Portland planning.

The non approving heathens must be forced to pay for it and cost doesn't matter when a false god demands an icon.

"Planning by the River"

I found a fat job in the city
There's a new scam every night and day
And I never lost a minute of sleep
Worrying 'bout the way they were gonna pay.

Big River keep on flowing
Big Budget keep on growing
I be Planning, Planning, Planning by the River.

If you come down to the river
Bet you gonna find a project or two
And we never worry 'bout the phony budget
We just get it started, 'til the money comes through

Big River keep on flowing
Big Budget keep on growing,
We be Planning, Planning, Planning by the River.

Where will the sacrificial virgins be found?

Bravo Bill.

Grumpy, this is brilliant and so so sadly true: "Portland is undergoing a major product redesign to appeal to a different consumer base."

One video is only the second ring. For the first, you get the linked video plus that Storm Large / Randy Leonard spoof from a few years back (you remember, the one where Randy peeks out from behind a tree, looking like a pervert).

Ben's still sorry that instead of the new no-auto's bridge the money didn't go to a third deck on the Marquam bridge connecting to a revived Mt. Hood expressway plowing through the Clinton neighborhood and Lents.

Garbage in, garbage out. These people need to look at what has happened over the years. As I recall about 1960 10% of Portlanders used the buses. Today it is nowhere near that number.

If I ran a business and experienced such a decline I would be out of business, or either in a neighborhood with a serious problem.

Cost benefit analysis means nothing to them.

Gordon,
I have not seen comments here from Ben to spend any money on a third deck on the Marquam.
He and many others are opposed to the light rail going forward to Milwaukie, extremely expensive, the money isn't there and apparently some want to move forward anyway at the expense of all else, taking money from schools and public services, etc. We need to stop bilking the public here for unnecessary pet projects including the priority projects for "bikes" around here.

Clinamen: The "third deck" comment was facetious. However, Ben has expressed regret that the Mt. Hood Expressway wasn't built.

Unlike the streetcars, which I think are a complete waste of money, and the WES, which is also a waste, light rail to Milwaukie at least makes sense from a transit perspective, unless you truly hate any and all rail transit. People may argue about the wisdom of building an entirely new bridge instead of using an existing one (although the screams would reverberate if any auto lanes on an existing bridge were converted to rail), or the timing during a recession, but otherwise it is basically a sound idea - a grade-separated right of way from downtown Portland through densely populated neighborhoods to a suburban city center.

But then, Clinamen, you had to throw in the swipe at the evil "bikes", sopping up all that transit money. According to Jeff Mapes' book "Pedaling Revolution," five percent of Portland commuters go by bike, while 1.5 percent of Portland's transportation budget goes to bike projects. Even if the five percent figure is a "summer" number and is inflated, as Jack has alleged, bikes don't get an amount of money proportional to their numbers. And yes, bikes don't pay road taxes, but other than the minority in the much derided (around here) "creative class," most bicyclists also own automobiles and drive.

Why do we have so many bike projects, yet so little a percentage of transportation money goes to bike projects? Perhaps because they are so cheap to do, in comparison to the $3.6 billion needed to replace the Interstate Bridge, the $300 million needed to replace the Sellwood Bridge, the many millions spent on repaving projects every year, etc. And if more bike projects mean more bicyclists, that means fewer cars, and fewer traffic jams. So get over your visceral bike hatred, Clinamen, and realize that bikes are an important part of an overall transportation program in this city.

Bill, you need a middle verse:

Hawked a lot o' bike at Metro
Hyped a lot o' tram for the PDC
But I never saw the north side of a billion
'Til I sold the train down to Mil-wau-kie

Bikes don't get 1.5% of the budget. They get 100% of the budget since they are allowed to use the same roads that cars use (assuming the city doesn't contribute towards highways where bikes aren't allowed).

I would think Ben, and others, would also point out the greater travesty that the government will use a half-billion dollars to build a new bridge across the Willamette that PROHIBITS car traffic when the Sellwood Bridge is is dire need of replacement. I'm guessing that a less fancy bridge could have accommodated both cars and trains and bikes and walkers.

Not sexy, but government isn't supposed to be.

The arguement that most bike owners also own a car and thus pay road use (gas) taxes is BS. I own three autos; does that mean I should only have to pay road use tax on one of them?

Gordon,

Typical RailVolution stunt.

Make up things instead of addressing the most germane problems.

I don't believe I have ever raised the "Mt. Hood Expressway" let alone expressed great regret".

How does on make up such a thing? And it's completely irrelevent anyway.

The MLR is not the expediture of $1.5 billion over spending the same on a new freeway or anything else.

It's not even truely funded.

The exact same reasons the LO streetcar & WES are a waste of money apply to MLR.
But all the same lies push them forward.
Next up Barbur/99 MAX.

Declaring it makes sense "from a transit perspective" is the same as declaring infilling "smart growh".

Your other stunt is playing the "hate" card suggesting empty headed hate is behind the oppostion to rail transit.

The MLR and it's bridge are both a dishonest and asinine misappropriation of $1 billion from existing local, regional and state revenue streams.
Most of which feed exisitng payrolls for essential services.
The short line, high cost & little purpose make it a terrible transit investment.

But you declare it to be "basically a sound idea" because it is "grade-separated" and goes from Portland to a suburb.

Even that is an embellishment with Milwaukie being so close. Even the usefulness from commuters standpoint is limited as anyone driving is almost downtown anyway.

It will be a costly parking shuttle for many.

Along with many other fatal flaws the wiping out of many businesses is another loss. One alone will cost $25 million to relocate.

But cost never matters to rail zealots. If this project was $4 billion fanatics would be making the same concocted supportive comments.

Even your bike rhetoric is all wet. The bike use is inflated and concentrated in the inner core with many bike facilities getting very little to no use.

The fact that bike share mush of the same infrastructure as cars and pedestrians there is no rational justification for spending an additional proportionate amount to match perceived, or rather ginned up, mode share.

Comparing bike spending to th cost of bridges is a red herring.

The Sellwood bridge preferred design demonstrates the irrational bike enamor. 37 feet in width for ped bike use is lunacy.

The ultimate fantasy is the notion that "more bike projects mean more bicyclists, that means fewer cars, and fewer traffic jams."

How does one get so confused as to believe such nonsense. There has never been any traffic jams cured by bike use. It's just assume for convenience and advocacy.

Bikes are a near meaningless part of an overall transportation program in this city. Especially with so many foul weather days and most use limited to the tiny core.

As for Milwaukie Light Rail, we can argue about it forever but the real crime is Clackamas county being forced to take it and pay for it. Same for Vancouver and Lake Oswego.

Pumping up the volume of propaganda is no substitute for allowing public votes and doing the right thing.

But the tyranny of the rail transit racket seeks to impose their will upon these communities.

Gordon,
Bikes aren't evil, but some of the people who ride them are obnoxious, rude, ignore the basic traffic rules, and sometimes create a hazard for motorists as well as pedestrians.
The MLR is an over priced, unnecessary and unfunded project created by developers who are no more interested in long term mass transit solutions, than a lion is interested in becoming a vegetarian.
Ben has got it right when he calls this a "rail transit racket". MLR and every other rail project in the world, is all about MAKING MONEY for a select few.

I should add; making money for a select few at taxpayer expense!

What's wrong with the steel bridge where it's already on ?????

What's wrong with the steel bridge where it's already on ?????

They wanted to use the Bridge and MLR to pump more into SoWa and they have already built the streetcar to OMSI and want to make the eastside- westside Streetcar loop connection.

Gordon, what's also wrong with using the Hawthorne Bridge for trolleys or Lightrail?

In Hawthorne's recent refurbishing to the tune of $85 Million, it was structured and prepared for a fixed rail line. Why do we have to spend 1/2 $Billion for a new ped/bike/transit bridge? And the Hawthorne alignment also dumps riders right at OMSI. That was a big criteria for swinging the new bridge design with the largest span possible to cross the Willamette at a diagonal versus going straight across, so it could be near OMSI. MLR first goes south, deeper into SoWhat, then crosses the Willamette on the proposed bridge back to the north to touch down by OMSI increasing the distances traveled. That also adds to the cost, far above the Hawthorne by over $400 Million. You need to know some of the background.

What's wrong with using bus transport?
It doesn't cost enough and/or enrich the "rail transit racketeers"!
Private enrichment, public risk and taxpayer expense; that is the mantra of ALL so called "private-public" civic projects.

Bikes don't get 1.5% of the budget. They get 100% of the budget since they are allowed to use the same roads that cars use

They also (unlike cars and buses) ride on sidewalks. And although non-motorized vehicles in general aren't allowed on freeways, that's not the case in Portland.

But back to the fancy new bridge: I read the other day that Tri-Met is going to give Portland Spirit $4 million to retrofit their boat so that it can pass beneath the low span. That right there could have purchased around 10 buses.

Gordon,
Look at all these words you used - truly hate, swipe, evil "bikes", visceral bike hatred?
Your words, not mine.

I recognize the need for accommodating bikes in a city, but I believe we have factions here who are being very pushy and ready to fire words of hatred or to marginalize anyone who might question the priorities, including costs around here. My perception is that we are being bombarded and propagandized unduly about the premier importance of bikes over all on our community.

Bill + Bojack = Tom Leher for our times. Now, where's the band?

‪Tina Turner - Rolling on the river (1971) (Proud Mary)‬‏ - YouTube