Appendix O. Navigation and Climate Change Summary O.1 Willamette
APPENDIX O. NAVIGATION AND CLIMATE CHANGE SUMMARY O.1 WILLAMETTE RIVER BRIDGE PROPOSAL O.1.1 Overview of Bridge and Willamette River The Portland-Milwaukie Light Rail Project (“Project”) proposes constructing a new multi-use Bridge (Bridge) across the Willamette River, between the Marquam (I-5) and Ross Island (Hwy 26) Bridges, and between Oregon Health and Science University’s (OHSU) future South Waterfront campus on the west bank and Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI) on the east bank.1 The Bridge will link vital employment, education, and research centers in downtown Portland, South Waterfront, and inner Southeast Portland with Milwaukie and Clackamas County. The Bridge will be a cable-stayed structure that accommodates light rail, streetcars, buses, pedestrians, and bicycles, and will be accessible to emergency vehicles. Buses, light rail vehicles, and streetcars will share a set of paved tracks in the center of the Bridge. Two, 14-foot multi-use paths would be on each side of the Bridge, separated from the transit vehicles and tracks by safety barriers. TriMet, in developing the design concept for the Bridge, conducted a detailed review of the many navigational, engineering, functional, environmental, transportation, cost, and public interest factors critical to the selection of a bridge type. This included a detailed assessment of current and future navigational needs beginning with the Supplemental Draft Environmental Impact Statement (SDEIS) efforts in 2007 and 2008, and continuing through additional engineering for a preferred alternative, the selection of a bridge type, and the preparation of this Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS). These efforts included document research, field investigations, and outreach to navigational users and interests, coupled with an extensive open public process to review and refine various design concepts.
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