Burnside Bridge Construction Nearly Complete
After more than two years of work to repair and upgrade the Burnside Bridge, construction is finally coming to an end! The bridge will be closed from Friday, November 1 at 11 p.m. – Monday, November 4 at 5 a.m. to apply new striping. On Monday morning, all travel lanes and sidewalks will be open with new striping in place.
What’s New on Burnside
In addition to resiliency upgrades and repairs, the new striping will support public transit reliability and safety for people walking, biking and driving. Multnomah County and the Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT) worked together to develop this new striping plan, which includes a transit-only eastbound lane and a buffer zone with candlesticks between bike and travel lanes. The bridge’s new bus lane runs eastbound on Burnside, starting at West 2nd Ave. and extending across the bridge, benefiting the thousands of Portlanders who travel on TriMet lines 12, 19, and 20. The buffer zone next to the bike lanes will provide more comfortable cycling across the bridge.
The bridge’s new striping plan is one of PBOT’s Central City in Motion projects, designed to support job and population growth with transportation improvements in the city’s core. It also supports TriMet’s Making Transit Better effort. PBOT will extend the eastbound bus lane to East 12th in 2020.
What’s Next?
Depending on progress this weekend, crews may need to close one travel lane at off-peak hours in the next few weeks to safely install the white candlestick delineators in the new buffer zone between the bike and travel lanes. In the next few months, the contractor will also install protective fencing along the edge of the bridge above Interstate 5.
About the Project
The improvements constructed as part of the maintenance project will extend the service life of the Burnside Bridge for 15-20 more years. Multnomah County is planning a major rehabilitation or replacement investment to seismically strengthen the bridge. That project is the Earthquake Ready Burnside Bridge Project. Construction of the maintenance project began in spring 2017 and consisted of much-needed repairs to the road surface, sidewalks, railings, the bridge structure, and mechanical and electrical systems.