| The views from the bridge |
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| The views from the bridge |
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Bridge tour participants compared design options.
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The combination of three sites in and around popular Alton Baker Park, a serendipitously sunny Saturday in July, and the lure of free soda and hotdogs made the official design kickoff for the Willamette River Bridge in Eugene a well-attended success.
Whether cyclists and other passers-by looked north from Canoe Canal, the Frog Pond or the Knickerbocker Bridge as they participated in the self-guided bridge tour, they had a commanding view: of the Willamette River, the decommissioned Interstate 5 bridge that connects Eugene and Springfield, and its temporary replacement.
And when they returned to the tents that ODOT’s public involvement team had set up at each site, they had an even bigger view into a future they could help shape.
The Bridge View Design Kickoff marked the end of one phase for the Willamette River Bridge—the single largest project on the OTIA III State Bridge Program—and the beginning of the next. The environmental assessment is complete, and the public is now providing feedback that will help the project development team and the community advisory group choose between four design options for the bridge.
“The project management team members are always happy to get out of airless meeting rooms and into a casual setting where they can answer questions and explain the advantages of various bridge types,” said Joe Harwood, Region 2 public information officer and member of the public involvement team for the project.
Displays under the canopies included computer-generated renderings of various design options. Schematics informed viewers about engineering specifics such as elevation and clearances as well as the number of pilings in the river.
Thanks to the public involvement team’s activities, interested Oregonians have been able to provide feedback about the Willamette River Bridge project in a variety of ways. In the spring, the team created a Web survey that generated responses from more than 1,300 people from Eugene, Springfield and other parts of Lane County. A subsequent newsletter updated recipients about the project schedule through December 2012 and invited them to the kickoff.
At the event, a 20-page pamphlet explained why the bridge needed to be replaced and shared with visitors the survey results. In their survey responses, people had described the appearance of their preferred new bridge as “graceful,” “distinctive,” “memorable,” “curved” and “unique.” In terms of values, respondents overwhelmingly chose durability of design and sustainability of construction as their top priorities. Of the four types of bridge design to choose from—I-girder, box girder, deck arch and through arch—the deck arch design ranked highest, with 857 first- and second-choice rankings and the fewest last-choice rankings. (See the complete survey results at www.WillametteBridge.org.) Visitors to the kickoff could continue the feedback process themselves by filling out a response card with questions similar to those in the survey. Even better, they could get quick responses to their questions about the project from the many PI team members enjoying the sunshine with them.
July’s design kickoff was part of an extensive series of public involvement activities to date, including four public open house meetings in Springfield and Eugene (two in April 2006 and two in April 2007), one-on-one interviews with representatives of stakeholder groups in Eugene and Springfield, and development of a project Web page and public comment log.
At the end of the day, how many people had attended the design kickoff? Verifiably more than 200, based on the vendor’s tally of hotdogs that had been given away.
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