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a mixer celebrating Portland’s creative industry, Friday October 7th, 2011 7pm-10:30pm
A fundraiser for the Architecture Foundation of Oregon hosted by THA Architecture. Featuring ART curated by Chroma – MUSIC by Neverland – WORDS from AFO President Jonah Cohen
Professionals from all creative industries are invited to join us for drinks & light hors d’oeuvres in the historic Hallock-McMillan Building (237 SW Naito Parkway), currently under renovation. Cocktail attire is requested.
2011 Dinner With An Architect schedule has been posted! Runs April through September – call or email us to reserve your seat. 503-542-3825 or jane@af-oregon.org
Membership Event at the Belluschi House on September 15, 2011. If you haven’t already renew your membership and join us for wine and a private viewing of newly remolded the Belluschi House. Contact Jane for more information, jane@af-oregon.org or503-542-3825.
2011 Honored Citizen Dinner honoring Oregon Community Foundation will be held on
Tuesday October 25, 2011.
For sponsorship opportunities contact Jane at jane@af-oregon.org or call 503-542-3825.
Crossing The Columbia: What Does It Mean?
The Columbia River Crossing (CRC) is a proposed interstate bridge across the Columbia River and five miles of freeway, interchanges and access ramps along Interstate 5 between Portland’s Victory Boulevard on the south and Washington State Route 500 on the north. It is arguably the largest public infrastructure project our region is likely to see for generations.
Background
With the involvement of myriad local, regional, state and federal agencies and tribes as well as several citizen advisory groups, the project has been years in the planning. Its complex array of goals and constituents combine to address:
•Growing travel demand and congestion
•Impaired freight movement
•Limited public transportation operation, connectivity and reliability
•Safety and vulnerability to collisions
•Substandard pedestrian and bicycle facilities
•Seismic vulnerability
AFO’s involvement
It has been difficult for the average citizen to comprehend the scope, complexity and process of the CRC. In the fall of 2009, troubled by a seeming dearth of media coverage and an apparent lack of transparency on the part of project officials, the Architecture Foundation of Oregon joined forces with PDXplore, an independent design collective to:
•Create greater awareness of the Portland-Vancouver metropolitan area as one unified region with multiple commonalities and interests
•Stimulate a deeper understanding of the role of comprehensive design thinking and its opportunities to influence the planning process
•Encourage community leaders and public officials to maximize the CRC project’s potential for excellence
In late March of 2010, AFO and PDXplore produced a week-long forum and exhibition at Pacific Northwest College of Art, Crossing The Columbia: What Does It Mean? More than 500 people participated in the week’s activities, which included:
- Opening reception and tour led by the exhibition designers of PDXplore, Rudy Barton, Carol Mayer-Reed, FASLA, Michael McCulloch, AIA, Rick Potestio, AIA, and Bill Tripp.
- Moving Forward: A Better Way to Govern Regional Transportation, a presentation by City Club of Portland’s regional transportation research committee
- Columbia River Crossing: An evening with members of the CRC Project Team featuring presentations by CRC staff and representatives of the Cities of Vancouver and Portland
- Transportation Lessons from Scandinavia: Oresund Bridge & the Columbia River Crossing by Gail Achterman, Chair of the Oregon Transportation Commission
- International Panel: Fresh Design Perspectives a provocative discussion moderated by Ethan Seltzer and featuring Boston Globe architecture critic Robert Campbell, artist Ed Carpenter, outgoing National Endowment for the Arts Design Director Maurice Cox, Toronto architect and urban design consultant Ken Greenberg, and Stanford professor Richard White, author of The Organic Machine: The Remaking of the Columbia River.
View the video Crossing The Columbia: What Does It Mean?
Recent developments
Our effort was one of several that have spurred increased consideration of many of the significant impacts the CRC will have on our region. While afo does not have the resources for constant monitoring and tracking of all things CRC, we offer the following as an abbreviated update of concerns, suggestions and activities surrounding the project over the past several weeks.
- Governors Gregoire and Kulongoski appointed an Independent Review Panel which made 30 specific recommendations in their 317-page July 27 report to the governors. The Washington Department of Transportation and Oregon Department of Transportation jointly issued a September 28 response to the IRP recommendations.
- On September 14, Metro Councilor Robert Liberty convened a panel discussion of citizen alternatives to the current CRC proposal. A nearly two-hour video of the complete discussion is available on Metro’s website. The evening included a presentation of Spencer Boomhower’s eleven-minute video with excellent graphic communication, “The Columbia River Crossing: A Boatload of Questions,” which is also available for viewing here, separate from full coverage of the panel discussion.
- Plaid Pantry President & CEO, Chris Girard, commissioned economic analyst, Joseph Cortright, to update and expand on his earlier financial analysis of the project and sent results on October 4 to the Oregon Legislative Assembly and their leaders.
- In response to the IRP recommendations, members of the CRC project’s Urban Design Advisory Group re-convened and communicated these six key objectives to Governor Kulongoski and project and public leaders:
- Create suitable gateways to the States of Oregon and Washington.
- Knit together rather than divide neighborhoods along the way
- Acknowledge and plan for wise use of the waterfront areas throughout the project
- Help make the Columbia an important focus of the region rather than simply an obstacle to be overcome
- Achieve a Columbia Bridge structure that is elegant, distinctive, timeless, and equal to the grand passage between two great states over the most important river in the region
- Address and plan for improvement of traffic problems that the CRC will exacerbate in Downtown Portland
In addition to concurring with the IRP’s specific recommendations, numbers 15) “Re-invigorate public involvement and re-engage with respective working groups”; and, 22) “Revisit bridge type selection for the Columbia River Bridge as well as an iconic shape for the North Portland Harbor bridge type”, the UDAG members also recommended the following:
- Reconvene the UDAG for the duration of the project with a new charter including proactive scope and responsibilities
- Clarify the current short and long term project schedules
- Formally adopt UDAG’s Design Guidelines document
- Involve UDAG in reviewing CRC’s “design refinements”
- Involve UDAG in selecting a world class bridge architect
- Portland Monthly and City Club of Portland presented “Columbia River Crossing: A more sensible alternative” in their monthly Bright Lights series. Randy Gragg hosts a conversation with urban designer George Crandall, Zipcar czar Bill Scott, and economist Joe Cortright, Monday, November 15, 6pm at Jimmy Mak’s, 221 NW 10th Avenue, Portland.
- The CRC project assembled an “expert bridge panel” – the Bridge Review Panel (BRP) — to review both the heretofore proposed Open Web Box Girder and potential alternative bridge types. The panel was chaired by Tom Warne, who chaired the original Independent Review Panel, and included 15 highly regarded designers, engineers and bridge consultants. Panelists’ brief bios can be found on the CRC website. The panel issued its final report on February 3, 2011, with the following Primary Recommendations:
- Recommendation 1: Discontinue any further design or planning work on the open-web box girder alternative.
- Recommendation 2: Select a new bridge type from among three feasible alternatives: cable-stayed, tied arch and composite deck truss.
- Recommendation 3: Proceed with further analysis and public review of recommended alternatives in order to select a preferred bridge type.
- Recommendation 4: Work with the Federal Aviation Administration to resolve airspace issues with Pearson Field relating to either the cable-stayed or tied arch bridge designs.
- Recommendation 5: Develop a tangent (straight) alignment for the main river crossing downstream of the exiting bridges.
- Recommendation 6: Replace the North Portland Harbor Bridge.
Additionally, the BRP made the following Secondary Recommendations/Opportunities for Improvement: Review all interchanges, ramps and other geometric features to simplify the overall corridor design for substantial cost savings and to improve safety and corridor operations.
- Review the potential impacts to the project description and technical studies for the environmental document and develop a work plan to maintain a realistic target date for the Record of Decision.
- Provide uniform seismic performance levels for the North Portland Harbor Bridge and Columbia River Bridge.
- Establish performance-based project specific criteria for all primary and secondary members upon selection of the final bridge type crossing the Columbia River Bridge.
- is the most affordable
- maintains the project schedule
- minimized environmental impacts
- honors commitments that have been made to communities in both states, and
- provides the least risk.
- Upon receipt of the BRP report, Governors Gregoire and Kitzhaber asked their respective Departments of Transportation to conduct an expedited review of the three bridge types and report back within three weeks with a draft bridge type recommendation. The governors identified the following criteria to be included in the review:
- The Oregon and Washington Departments of Transportation (DOTs) subsequently concluded that the deck truss bridge type was “the only bridge type that meets the needs of both states and the criteria established by the Governors.”
- Throughout this process the governors received letters in support of the Cable-Stayed Bridge type from many individuals and organizations, including:
- CRC Urban Design Advisory Group
- Architecture Foundation of Oregon
- AIA/Portland
- PDXplore
- AIA/Seattle
- Bicycle Transportation Alliance
- CRC Portland Working Group
In addition, members of UDAG, AFO and others issued a 103-page White Paper, countering point-by-point the DOTs draft recommendation and supporting statements made by the Bridge Review Panel that would have led to selection of the Cable-Stayed Bridge type.
- Nonetheless, on April 25, Governors Gregoire and Kitzhaber “identified the deck truss bridge as the best replacement structure for the aging Interstate 5 bridge because it provides the most certain path to keep the project on schedule and on budget.”
- On May 2, 2011, the Architecture Foundation of Oregon, sent the following letter to Governor Kitzhaber:
“As you know, we are disappointed with the decision that you and Governor Gregoire have made to move forward with the deck truss bridge type for the Columbia River Crossing. We believe this is a loss for our region of an opportunity to utilize this major infrastructure project to enhance all aspects of this magnificent setting and the surrounding region and to leave a proud legacy for future generations.
We did appreciate your willingness to hear our concerns and advice during your deliberation.
It is unfortunate that the selection of a bridge type has become the focus of attention for this project which will impact our region so dramatically in the way it connects to our urban fabric on both sides of the river. We maintain our conviction that for the project to be truly successful it must integrate design and planning to enhance the entire area with regard to urban planning, land use planning, public amenities, economic development, land development, neighborhood sustainability and the best interests of the river habitat.
The CRC Urban Design Advisory Group has invested hundreds of hours in understanding this project and how it can result in the best design possible, given the myriad (and seemingly increasing) project constraints. We strongly encourage you and Governor Gregoire, from this point forward, to utilize UDAG’s expertise to help you achieve the best possible outcome. UDAG has been underutilized in the past, and their expertise can help ensure the best design integration possible, given the choice of bridge type.
Please provide a substantial role for UDAG in the development of a selection process, and throughout the selection of a design/build team to assure the final bridge design and construction includes a world class bridge designer for this project – one who understands all of the contexts that can contribute to the best possible project given current constraints.
In addition, you may be sure that the Architecture Foundation of Oregon remains keenly interested in the project, not just the bridge. Please call on us at any time if we may provide assistance.
We thank you for your consideration, and urge you to see that the CRC project continue to develop a culture of openness and transparency as we have begun to see under your administration. This will be essential for the public support that will be required for the project to succeed.”
Next steps
According to the CRC project website, next steps include:
- Update project cost estimates to incorporate deck truss design (Spring 2011)
- Add architect(s) to the project team and establish architectural specifications for a bridge design contract (Spring 2011)
- Work with Project Sponsors Council to publish the Final Environmental Impact Statement (Summer 2011)
- Receive federal Record of Decision (Late 2011)
- Start construction (2013)
AFO members and interested parties will receive regular updates via our monthly email newsletter. Subscribe.
Architects in Schools
Architects in Schools Student Exhibition was held Thursday, May 5 at Center for Architecture, US Bank Tower Lobby, Albina Community Bank’s Pearl District lobby, and Opsis. This was an amazing night for students to proudly show off their work.
Architects in Schools teacher/architect orientation was at UO Portland Center, White Stag Block on January 29.
