Wednesday, February 20, 2013

Insights from the Third Bridge Field Trip

On February 19, Salem City Council and interested Salem residents toured the areas that would be impacted by the location of a third bridge.

We offer the following insights as a result of the most recent field trip.



(1)   The Pine Street/Hickory Street/Liberty Rd/Front Street areas have properties which are vacant, under-utilized, or for sale. Almost all of the area affected by bridgeheads connecting to Pine Street NE and Hickory Street NE are really more in a low-volume or low-existent commercial use and, not substantially in residential use.   
(2)   Absent also were any sidewalks or crosswalks on parts of Pine and Hickory streets.  
(3)   The Third Bridge EIS is providing Council with great opportunities to improve neighborhoods (i.e., sidewalks, streetlights, green areas), as well as provide for better mobility. 
(4)   As originally designed, the potential of extending Pine Street eastward to directly connect to Silverton Rd NE (over the RR tracks) would also improve east-west traffic flows.
(5)   In West Salem, improvements for the planned Marine Drive NW are already in the Salem’s Transportation Plan.  While those improvements may need to be expanded to the Third Bridge traffic, impacts to residential areas are minimal and already assumed for Marine Drive NW.
(6)   Marine Drive NW $3.5M funding is already provided for in the 2008 Streets and Bridges bond measure, approved by the voters.
(7)   Much of the south-side of Edgewater NW is already ODOT-owned Right-of-Way (“ROW”).  Regardless of improvements needed for a Third Bridge, ODOT currently has the option of widening OR Highway 22 where parts of the Edgewater Drive linear park are now and underneath where some of the northern Edgewater NW small businesses are now.