CITY TO PRESENT FIVE BRIDGE DESIGNS AT OPEN HOUSE
The City of Wilsonville is hosting a open house to review initial design concepts for the proposed French Prairie Bike-Ped-Emergency Bridge across the Willamette River. Project leaders invite interested community members to view the five bridge designs, talk with the project team, and provide feedback in helping select the preferred bridge design for the French Prairie crossing.
French Prairie Bridge Project
Bridge Design Open House
Thursday, October 18, 5-7 pm
Wilsonville City Hall
29799 SW Town Center Loop E
For those who are unable to make it in-person, an On-Line Open House will go live on October 11 and last through October 30. Website visitors will be able to view the bridge designs , ask the project team questions, and provide feedback on each of the five bridge types under consideration.
REGIONAL TRAIL CONNECTION
Connecting the 1000 miles of multi-use trails in the three county Portland region to the 134-mile Willamette Valley scenic bikeway to Eugene relies on a Willamette River crossing at Wilsonville. The French Prairie Bridge fills this critical gap, while providing local and regional active transportation and recreation opportunities in the northern portion of the Willamette Valley, known as the French Prairie region
EMERGENCY ACCESS
The frequently congested I-5 Boone Bridge carries over 120,000 vehicles every day—nearly a third of which are large trucks—and provides cyclists and pedestrians with no separation from traffic.
In instances where there is an accident or other traffic disruption, back-ups on I-5 can impact emergency response time and secondary responders working to clear the road can have difficulty getting to the accident site. The proposed French Prairie Bridge would provide both a safe route for cyclists and pedestrians to cross the Willamette River and provide an I-5 incident response option for emergency responders.
PROJECT STATUS
The currently funded French Prairie Bridge Project led by the City of Wilsonville in partnership with Clackamas County, Metro, and the Oregon Department of Transportation aims to address the following questions:
- Where are the preferred landing points for the bridge? (complete)
- What is the preferred bridge type?
- What is the estimated cost of the preferred bridge and how might its construction be funded?
At the completion of this preliminary design project, the City of Wilsonville and regional partners will have the information needed to determine whether to pursue final design and construction of the French Prairie Bridge.
PREFERRED BRIDGE LOCATION
Earlier this year, the Wilsonville City Council and Clackamas County Board of Commissioners approved the French Prairie Bridge Bridge location unanimously recommended by a 21-member citizen task force empaneled to review and recommend a location and design for the bridge project. North of the river, the alignment connects to the west shoulder of SW Boones Ferry Road in Boones Ferry Park. The south end of the bridge connects to NE Butteville Road opposite the Clackamas County Boones Ferry Boat Launch parking lot.
NEXT STEPS
Bridge types representing a range of styles and costs will be considered based on the selected bridge location. In January 2019, the Clackamas Board of County Commissioners and Wilsonville City Council will select two of the bridge designs for further study after listening to public feedback and the recommendation of the project Task Force.
STAY INVOLVED!
Please make sure you are on our e-mail list and keeping up to date on current news and events by visiting the project page at FrenchPrairieBridgeProject.org. For more information, please contact Zach Weigel, P.E., 503.570.1565 or by email weigel@ci.wilsonville.or.us
Find out more: http://frenchprairiebridgeproject.org/