Comments

1
damage to roads occurs at a rate of the axle weight of a vehicle to the 4th power. Heavy Trucks can do as much damage to a road as 1000 cars. Why on earth would we charge more to road users who do less damage?
2
@econoline
...add to that factor studded tires. I'm not paying for a bunch of road damage just because some people can't drive in their weather. Those should have been taxed ages ago.
3
I, of course, smugly don't drive a car.
4
I'll pay. I'm scared of that bridge.

In the meantime they should put some Tibetian prayer wheels so bikers / walkers can be comforted as they transverse.
5
@orgengine: I completely agree, we should be taxing the shit out of studded tires. But they're irrelevant to the Sellwood bridge - it's not the surface that's the problem, it's the structure, and the type of tires doesn't affect that.
6
Matt, please elaborate on why the heck heavy trucks would be exempt from the $19 fee.

And is it a bridge fee if I drive over it, but a bridge tax if I don't?
7
"In 1960, three feet was cut out to accommodate a landslide."

Cut out of what? The bridge? That doesn't make any sense.
8
I guess they could shift the tax over to trucks, but you'd just wind up paying for it when you buy something delivered via truck. Which is to say all the food you eat, among other things.

It's stupid how bridge improvements are such a hard sell. You may not contribute as much to the wear and tear in a car, but having a bridge collapse is going to ruin your day all the same if you happen to be on it.
9
Cut out of the bridge! According to the staffer presenting:

The land up the hill from the bridge moved 3 feet, pushing the bridge 3 feet, so they cut out the three feet that had moved, and propped it back up as if nothing had ever happened.

Trucks over that weight is state law, Paul. I guess they're trying to protect "interstate commerce."
10
@Stu
Considering the landslide, I can see that argument. It doesn't help, however, that the road has been ground down to the rebar in places. That will also have an effect on the structure in the form of torques making the rebar pop chunks of concrete from under the walkway. This was noticeable the last time I biked across that bridge, which was ten years ago.
11
1) Don't mind a $19 tax as long as I don't have to do into the DMV to pay it.

2) Why not just toll it?

3) Since the point is to raise $$$ rather than curb behavior, bikers AND pedestrians should have to pay, regardless of whether or not they already own cars. And I agree that overweight trucks should have to pay more.

4) If you're living in the metro area and you have studded tires, you're a fucking loser.
12
I really don't understand why a per-axle toll isn't central to the proposal.

13
It should be noted that trucks over 26,000 pounds will be prohibited from using the bridge, although that restriction does not apply to public vehicles such as buses and emergency vehicles. The weight restriction was added by the Oregon Legislature and should ensure that Tacoma and surrounding streets remain free of heavy trucks.
14
I remember when they came out with the first studded tires, that they used ground up walnut shells instead of metal studs. As I recall, they worked pretty good, too. And no damage to the roads. I just remembered that they also used sawdust in the tires. This was way back when you could buy a re-cap passenger tire. I grew up in the Carson-Stevenson area, and most of us had extra wheels mounted with the winter tires and only used them in the winter. Of course, the alternative is banning studded tires, and reverting to putting chains on when it's bad, but most people try to avoid using them and just end up wrecking themselves and/or someone else.
15
Trucks that weigh more than 26,000 lbs are exempt from local vehicle registration fees in Oregon because their owners pay a separate weight/mile tax. The weight/mile fee taxes heavy trucks more to reflect their greater wear and tear on roads and bridges.

In the early 1960's, the hillside on the west end of the Sellwood Bridge slid several feet toward the river, pushing the bridge structure and damaging the bridge. The county removed several feet from the bridge deck and jacked the support piers back into place to account for the hill movement. The bridge is still damaged from this landslide.

Tolling has been studied as a way to fund a new Sellwood Bridge. Experts predict tolling only the Sellwood Bridge would not work. The majority of traffic would detour to nearby bridges without tolls (Ross Island, Hawthorne, etc.), which would force the county to increase the toll on the Sellwood Bridge, which would cause more traffic to avoid the Sellwood. Tolling the Sellwood only simply would not generate enough revenue to sell bonds to build a new bridge.
16
IF PEOPLE WOULD AVOID IT WITH A TOLL BY CROSSING AT ANOTHER BRIDGE, THEN THE BRIDGE IS NOT NEEDED, SCRAP IT, PUT A SWINGING BRIDGE ACROSS FOR PEDESTRIANS AND BIKE, AND MAKE THEM PAY FOR IT.

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