Lawmakers hear pleas to fund design of resilient Columbia Boulevard bridge to protect North Portland

Portland and state elected officials and neighborhood leaders told the Joint Committee on Transportation on April 14 that House Bill 2,749 would fund early design work for a new Columbia Boulevard bridge intended to preserve emergency access to the North Portland peninsula.

Advocates said the bill would provide $5 million to the Oregon Department of Transportation to support the City of Portland’s effort to reach 30% design, which they said is a critical threshold for applying for federal bridge-replacement grants.

Representative Travis Nelson (House District 44, North and Northeast Portland) said the project is about “more than infrastructure” and described a risk that a large Cascadia Subduction Zone earthquake could sever emergency access for more than 30,000 people on the North Portland peninsula. “These bridges are projected to collapse,” Nelson said, adding that the peninsula includes St. John’s, Cathedral Park and Rivergate neighborhoods and that liquefaction and potential damage at a nearby fuel-storage “CEI hub” could worsen the emergency.

Elena Pertleguine, Portland City Council President (representing District 2, North and Northeast Portland), told the committee she supports HB 2,749 and said the two parallel Columbia Boulevard structures (one built in 1909, the other in 1968) are “well past the end of their design lives and are seismically vulnerable.” Pertleguine said the $5 million request would unlock the 30% design needed to compete for federal funding and noted the full reconstruction cost is currently estimated at about $58,000,000.

Community leaders and neighborhood association representatives gave two-minute public comments in support of the bill. RJ Dimelo, chair of the St. John’s Neighborhood Association, said the area’s population and the industrial Columbia Corridor give the state a stake in the work: “If we were here talking about any one of those cities or towns being completely cut off after a disaster, would that be a state issue? I think it would be easily yes,” he said. Joseph Perkey, a St. John’s resident and local business owner, called the funding “the first step in a public infrastructure improvement process.”

Portland City Councilor Sameer Kanal and a string of neighborhood activists and pastors described personal reasons for supporting the bill: family separation risk, lack of hospitals on the peninsula, and the likelihood that emergency supplies and response would be blocked if bridges fail.

Committee members pressed technical questions about seismic performance and scope. Representative Gamba asked whether a new bridge could be expected to remain usable immediately after a major quake or only protect people who happen to be on it during shaking; witnesses and lawmakers repeatedly clarified that HB 2,749 funds design work, not final construction specifications. A PBOT feasibility study and rough concept designs were described as complete, committee members said, but PBOT needs a 30% design package to competitively pursue federal grants.

Senator Lou Frederick (District 22) and others emphasized redundancy in emergency routes and said the Lumbar Bridge (owned by BNSF) and Columbia Boulevard are the two designated emergency routes; three of the four crossings over the railroad cut are railroad-owned, which is why proponents focused on Columbia Boulevard, a publicly owned route.

Representative Nelson and multiple witnesses said more than 100 written testimonies supported the bill. Several legislators signaled support for the concept but some asked for “guardrails,” such as budget or design parameters, before approving a $5 million design appropriation.

The committee did not take a final vote on HB 2,749 during the hearing; the public hearing record closed and the committee proceeded to other items.

As next steps, proponents asked the committee to advance the bill to ways and means or to include the design funding in an upcoming transportation package so Portland can pursue the required federal match later.

Ending: The committee’s public hearing on HB 2,749 provided extended local testimony urging the state to fund preliminary engineering work for a new Columbia Boulevard crossing. Committee members and agency representatives emphasized that the request is for design work (30% design) to make the project competitive for federal grants rather than for immediate construction funds.