The Futility of Global Bridge Bragging Rights

Portland’s 98-year-old Burnside Bridge

​Multnomah County, home to Portland, Oregon, plans to replace its Burnside Bridge, one of a handful spanning the Willamette River. Good. The busy, important bridge is 98 years old and not even close to earthquake proof.

The county came up with six proposed designs and surveyed residents to see which they preferred. Why the county bothered is beyond me, for in the end it overruled respondents, choosing the design rated fourth out of six.

Worse, the design’s price tag is $45 million higher than the nearest alternate design. 

The county’s rational? That the bridge would look really, really cool, setting Portland apart.

I’m not kidding. One bridge committee member put it this way: “A $900 million bridge ought to look like no other in entire bridge-building history.”

Portland has some serious problems. Murders, car thefts, an understaffed police force, organized theft, drug abuse, and homelessness, to name a few. I would happily trade a really, really cool looking bridge for an unremarkable one if it meant putting $45 million to work on any of the above.

As an editorial in today’s edition of The Oregonian put it, “Portland does not need to compete on a global level for bridge bragging rights.” 

Amen.