Residents of North Portland gathered along Columbia Boulevard on Saturday, urging lawmakers to take immediate action on House Bill 2749, which would allocate $5 million for the engineering design of a new emergency bridge over a century-old railroad cut.
Organizers and residents warned that the aging bridges, some over 110 years old, are expected to collapse in even a minor earthquake, cutting off the St. John’s peninsula and surrounding neighborhoods from emergency services and evacuation routes.
“We will be trapped here,” said Donna Cohen, rally organizer, in a statement to KATU News. “We don’t have a medical facility. Families will be separated. We will run out of supplies. This is a life-or-death issue for 20,000 people.”
House Bill 2749 would direct funds to the Oregon Department of Transportation, which would pass them to the City of Portland for design work on the new structure.
The rally also highlighted broader concerns about the Critical Energy Infrastructure Hub, located on unstable soil vulnerable to liquefaction during a major Cascadia Subduction Zone earthquake. A 2020 study estimated potential fuel spills from the hub could reach up to 193 million gallons.
State Sen. Lew Frederick who attended the rally, called the bridge an essential emergency route.
“We need to make sure people from the peninsula can get off. This is an emergency path, and we need to treat it that way.”
The bill is currently awaiting action in the legislature.
Source: KATU.com, City of Portland
