The perfect getaway (Jack Bog's Blog)

The new pedestrian bridge over I-5 between Portland's bizarre South Waterfront (SoWhat) District and the Lair Hill neighborhood is open for business. It's named after Darlene Hooley -- what a tribute. It's such a household name, they've already shortened it to a nickname. Folks all over the neighborhood are saying to each other, "Darlene Hoo?"

Anyway, we haven't seen too many folks on the span yet as we've passed beneath it in our car. The first of a lifetime of graffiti tags is probably already there, though -- or will be soon.

We're surprised that the U.S. government has allowed Portland to open the bridge. Remember, Fireman Randy's developer buds are building the federal immigration sweethearts a lovely jail-but-you-can't-call-it-a-jail facility in SoWhat, right next to a grammar school. If there's ever a jail break -- and we know all too well how worried they are about that potential -- the bad guys will be able to elude pursuing vehicles by running across the pedestrian bridge. On the other side is the labyrinth of tunnels and overpasses that make up the west side vehicle access to the Ross Island Bridge -- an easy place to lose any pursuit. We used to live over that way, and it's super-easy to lose people in that section of Lair Hill, even when you aren't trying.

Comments (8)

Bike share rack and free tri-met passes for guests of the federal facility.

Posted by Bark Munster | July 25, 2012 8:59 AM

It's worth pointing out ODOT is about to do something about the confusing west end of the Ross Island bridge starting in November: http://bikeportland.org/2012/04/04/odot-project-will-improve-biking-walking-in-southwest-near-ross-island-bridge-69868

No idea if that'll help. Curious to see if South Waterfront actually turns into a real neighborhood instead of the creepy zombieland it feels like now.

Posted by Andrew S | July 25, 2012 9:16 AM

That area is definitely one of the worst, it not the worst in the city, basically only favorable to cars coming from certain directions and dangerous to everything else, whether it be peds, bikes, or cars from other directions. And if they make it harder to get into downtown except by foot or bike, another reason to conduct business in the opposite direction.

Posted by Mr. Grumpy | July 25, 2012 9:36 AM

Andrew S, BikePortlands blog says it all, "reduction of motor vehicle lanes" for bikes and pedestrians on the west end of Ross Island Bridge. Forget about all the backed up traffic there is now. Onward.

Posted by lw | July 25, 2012 10:08 AM

This was pay-back to get all those guys in Lair Hill who were pissed off at the tram - Whether they wanted it or not.

So $13M for a bridge that'll have 10 people a day in bad weather using it. There are all kinds of honeypots of money in Portland, now matter what the pols tell you. Remember how upset they were that they couldn't get $5M from Clack County for the Sellwood bridge after they dropped $70M on SW Moody to lift it 15 feet?

We need to stop naming stuff after politicians also. They take our money and build their little pork projects and they want credit also?

Posted by Steve | July 25, 2012 10:19 AM

We need to wake up before the entire city is redone negatively and stop supporting the career politicians who seem only interested in their careers. If the people in this city keep head in sand only hoping someone else will appear to fix the problems, this is what we get.

Posted by clinamen | July 25, 2012 10:31 AM

"We haven't seen too many folks on the span yet as we've passed beneath it in our car." Even for you, that is quite the stretch to find a negative aspect to what we in Lair Hill have wanted for ages.

Posted by Brian Morisky | July 29, 2012 4:38 AM

The real negative is that your view of Mount Hood was traded for a bridge to a skyscraper ghetto. I don't need to stretch too far to see that your neighborhood has been screwed. I just stated what I've seen so far driving under that bridge -- so far, not many people are using it.

Posted by Jack Bog | July 29, 2012 12:25 PM

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Wednesday, July 25, 2012

The perfect getaway

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