PRESS RELEASE
September 16, 2019
Contact: Jessica Green, Portland Parks Foundation, jgreen@portlandpf.org, 503-445-0994
Barbara Walker Crossing over Burnside: Temporary West Burnside Closure Ahead
Bridge installation to close West Burnside October 11 – October 14, 2019
(PORTLAND, OR) - The Portland Parks Foundation (PPF) will be temporarily closing a portion of West Burnside Road to install the Barbara Walker Crossing, a new pedestrian bridge over West Burnside. The Barbara Walker Crossing is a project in partnership with Portland Parks & Recreation (PP&R), Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT), and Metro.
The steel section of the bridge is currently being fabricated offsite at Supreme Steel’s NE Portland shop and will be transported to the crossing site and craned into place. In order to do this, PPF will temporarily close West Burnside in both directions between NW Hermosa Blvd and NW Barnes Road from 7pm on Friday, October 11 until 4am on Monday, October 14. West Burnside will also temporarily be reduced to two lanes for 500 feet at the location of the bridge installation between October 7 and October 11.
WHAT: West Burnside Road will be temporarily closed for construction of the Barbara Walker Crossing, a new pedestrian bridge.
WHERE: West Burnside will be closed to traffic between NW Hermosa Blvd and NW Barnes Rd, allowing local access to all side streets connecting to Burnside on either side of the closure. For safety, no east or westbound traffic through the work zone will be permitted. Click here for a detour driving map.
WHEN: Work begins at 7pm on October 11 with West Burnside reopening at 4am on October 14.
PROJECT PAGE: barbarawalkercrossing.org
“We thank the community for its patience with the road closure while we lift the Barbara Walker Crossing into place,” says Randy Gragg, executive director of the Portland Parks Foundation. “The Wildwood Trail’s crossing of West Burnside has long been a disaster waiting to happen for runners and hikers. We’re trading a weekend of inconvenience for the safety of the 80,000 people who use the Wildwood Trail every year.”
Project work will include:
Transporting the bridge to the site
Welding pieces of the bridge together
Craning the bridge into place
Please note that during this temporary closure of Burnside, TriMet’s Bus 20 will experience service disruptions. Please check TriMet’s website for updated service advisories over the weekend. Additionally, the sections of the Wildwood Trail near the construction site will remain closed during this time and until the bridge is open to the public later this fall. Click here for a trail closure map.
Background
The Portland Parks Foundation has led the public/private partnership to build the Barbara Walker Crossing project, working with Portland Parks & Recreation, the Portland Bureau of Transportation, and Metro.
PPF conducted a successful capital campaign that raised two-thirds of the bridge’s $3.2 million cost, engaging more than 900 individual contributors. “Every single donor has the Foundation’s thanks for making the project a reality,” Gragg says. “It simply would not have happened without the community’s commitment and generosity.”
$850,000 – or one third – of the Barbara Walker Crossing is funded by the City of Portland ($500K from the General Fund and $350K in PBOT System Development Charges (SDCs), which are fees from new construction, not tax dollars). Metro’s 2014 Open Space Bond measure is contributing $200K. Portland Parks & Recreation also provided significant in-kind contributions to the project through $450K in Parks SDCs to the project to cover the Bureau’s project management costs.
The Crossing is named for the late Barbara Walker, one of Portland’s most ardent champions of trails and connecting parks and open spaces. Over four decades she played pivotal roles in creating amenities like Marquam Nature Park, the Vera Katz Eastbank Esplanade and the 40-Mile Loop Trust.
Working with the bridge’s designer, Ed Carpenter, R&H Construction and KPFF Consulting Engineers have developed the Barbara Walker Crossing to be built quickly and with minimal impact. The main steel structure will be fabricated off-site then lifted into place, reducing the need for on-site work.
“Portlanders love trails and they love bridges,” says Gragg. “Ed Carpenter’s thoughtful design connects two of our great civic urban traditions to make an experience hikers, runners, and drivers can love together.”
About Portland Parks Foundation
The Portland Parks Foundation is dedicated to connecting Portlanders to nature and to each other through the city’s parks, public spaces, and natural areas. We lead, develop partnerships, and raise money to fund new facilities, enhance existing ones, and support programs to put our parks system within reach of all. We are the chief philanthropic partner of Portland Parks & Recreation.
Questions about the project? Please go to the Barbara Walker Crossing construction page or contact Portland Parks Foundation’s Operations and Program Officer, Jessica Green at jgreen@portlandpf.org.
About the Foundation:
Website: www.portlandpf.org
Crossing email list: sign up here
Facebook: PortlandParksFoundation
About traffic closures:
Twitter: @PBOTinfo
Facebook: PBOTinfo
Email updates: sign up here
Here are the latest photos from Ed Carpenter’s visit to the steel fabrication site last week. Things are moving along!
