Some of you may be old enough to remember an ongoing sketch by Chevy Chase on the old Saturday Night Live. As he started each Weekend Update segment, he would announce the breaking news that “Generalissimo Francisco Franco is still dead!” It sometimes seems like we’re re-living that classic segment with our monthly Sellwood Bridge Update. This month’s news… “Construction is still continuing!”
Yes, the new Sellwood Bridge is still a couple years from completion so the crews are still busily working away. For the most part the traffic impacts have been amazingly trivial. Yes, there are occasional slow downs from the flaggers, but there’s only a few and they’re very brief. Multnomah County continues to do a fantastic job of keeping neighborhood businesses and residents informed, and working with all of us to make a gigantic project far easier than it has to be. The bridge is safe and open, so you shouldn’t let it interfere with any Sellwoodian plans you might have.
There’s one thing we told you about last month that bears repeating… If you are crossing the Sellwood Bridge and plan to head toward Lake Oswego you’ll now have to go north on Macadam to Taylor’s Ferry Road. The County has built a dedicated loop road just off the Taylor’s Ferry Road signal. You’ll take that, loop around, and be headed back south on Highway 43. That’s all the basics, but if you want to see a video then KATU has a full report on the U-turn.
As always, Multnomah County maintains the definitive website on everything related to the Sellwood Bridge Replacement project, www.sellwoodbridge.org. Construction and closure alerts, archived information, and other resources are all available 24/7 for your convenience. Their two constantly updated live webcams of the bridge cams are available here. If you’re looking for something that’s not on the website, you can contact Mike Pullen (mike.j.pullen@multco.us, 503-209-4111) or visit www.sellwoodbridge.org.
