Don’t say we didn’t warn you, Portland.
Beginning in August 2013, this newspaper exhaustively covered the unfolding debacle on the Morrison Bridge. Sometimes you cared. Often you didn’t.
And now? Your summer is screwed.
Beginning in earnest on Monday, four of the Morrison’s six lanes will be closed until October, as the county begins the expensive, laborious project of replacing a badly flawed polymer deck with a new option: a steel grate, partly filled with concrete and overlaid with a concrete-like top. Between design, engineering, construction, and other fees, the whole shebang is slated to cost $10.4 million.
Do you take the the Morrison westbound from the Central Eastside into downtown in the mornings? Not anymore you don’t. The bridge is only going to ferry cars from I-5 into downtown.
Want to go faster than 25 mph? Sorry, not allowed.
Already making plans to take the Hawthorne or Burnside instead? So is everyone else.
The Morrison’s the busiest of Portland’s non-highway Willamette River bridges, and it’s about to be massively out of order all summer. Here’s the county’s overview of the project.
Your options, commuter: Begin riding your bike, or figure out at whom you should direct your outrage.
As it happens, there are plenty of folks!
•For instance, we ran a piece chronicling how the company that supplied the failed bridge deck went to great lengths to hide flaws in the design from the county.
•And one that showed the county knew the deck was flawed and installed it anyway.
•And just for good measure, we wrote about how the engineering firm that helped Multnomah County design the failing bridge deck is the very same firm doing engineering for the incoming deck. Even though the county sued them for the last failure.
Oh, there’s more:
• “(Un)Screwed,” News, August 7, 2013
• “Water Under the Bridge?” News, August 21, 2013
•”The Tea Leaves,” News, September 25, 2013
• “Fingers Crossed,” News, October 16, 2013
• “Getting Decked,” July 9, 2014
• “Come Shudder At This Video of Damage on the Morrison Bridge,” Blogtown, January 23, 2015
•”It’s Everybody’s Fault the Morrison Bridge is Broken, But a Jury Gave Multnomah County Second-Most Credit,” Blogtown, March 9, 2015
Who do I yell at about this?
I wrote a warning about a lot of things on a personal website of mine. If you and the other 1.5 million people in this area did not take the time to read it then don’t say I did not take the time to warn you. What do you think I should like go to city meetings and take the time to speak to you about it? You know what, the three microphones placed in front of leading officials, this public meeting thing, checks and balances, public dialogue, and free speech alike are so in the 90’s. Who needs them when we have facebook? So I’ll just like be the creepy guy in back taking photos of you and saying nothing at these public meetings, but do totally read my blog so that I can say I warned you.
…And do tell us Dirk, why cannot you yourself participate in public meetings? Like the young gangster protesters you derive your weekly dose of drama from, cat got your tongue? Stage fright? Scared your mayor might caste you as one of “the same five middle age white men”?
Hoooooooly shit. That comment.
“Ruin your Summer”??????
Shut up, stop whining, consider some form of active transportation.