French Prairie Bridge Project News
October 25, 2019 - At their meeting in mid-2019, the French Prairie Bridge Task Force unanimously recommended that the Wilsonville City Council and the Clackamas County Board of Commissioners select the suspension bridge type as the preferred bridge type for the proposed French Prairie Bridge.
May 31, 2019 - The French Prairie Bridge Task Force is meeting on Tuesday, June 4, 6-8 pm, at Wilsonville City Hall, 29799 SW Town Center Loop E. This meeting is open to the public.
The meeting provides a public forum for the Task Force to consider public testimony, impact studies, cost estimates and other criteria in order to determine which bridge type to recommend to the Wilsonville City Council and the Clackamas County Board of Commissioners for consideration this spring.
April 17, 2019 - The City of Wilsonville is seeking input on two proposed bridge designs for the proposed French Prairie Bridge. The proposed bridge over the Willamette River would provide a safe route for cyclists and pedestrians to cross the river and allow emergency responders to cross the river in case of incidents or congestion on the adjacent I-5 Boone Bridge.
January 17, 2019 - On Jan. 7, 2019, the Wilsonville City Council unanimously supported the recommendation of the French Prairie Bridge Task Force, designating two bridge types for further study among the five previously under consideration by the project team.
The proposed French Prairie Bridge over the Willamette River would provide a seismically-sound emergency response alternative to I-5 and connect the North Willamette Valley to the Portland metro area for daily use by bicyclists and pedestrians.
January 14, 2019 - The French Prairie Bridge Task Force, an appointed advisory body charged with helping guide the French Prairie Bridge Project, recommended to City Council two signature bridge types for further consideration in early 2019. The new bridge is proposed to carry pedestrians, bicyclists and emergency vehicles across the Willamette River.
Task Force members recommended a suspension bridge and a cable-stayed bridge, opting out of the less-expensive, higher river impact, utilitarian bridge types or the highest cost bridge types under consideration.
September 27, 2018 — The City of Wilsonville is hosting an open house to review initial design concepts for the proposed French Prairie ‘Bike-Ped-Emergency’ Bridge across the Willamette River. This public meeting is being held on Thursday, Oct. 18, 5-7 pm, at Wilsonville City Hall, 29799 SW Town Center Loop E.
Project leaders are unveiling five different bridge-type designs for public consideration; each design accommodates daily use by cyclists and pedestrians as well as special use by emergency services vehicles as needed.
June 5, 2018 - At a public hearing on June 4, 2018, the Wilsonville City Council selected a preferred alignment to locate the proposed French Prairie Bridge over the Willamette River that would serve as both an emergency incident response route for I-5 and a daily use amenity by bicyclists and pedestrians.
May 21, 2018 - The Wilsonville City Council will consider the French Prairie Bridge Task Force preferred bridge location recommendation at a public hearing on June 4. The project team will provide the Council with a summary of the process to determine the preferred bridge location during the City Council meeting regular session beginning at 7 pm. The City Council is expected to approve a resolution identifying the preferred bridge location.
April 13, 2018 - The French Prairie Bridge Task Force, an appointed citizen body charged with helping guide the French Prairie Bridge Project, unanimously recommended an alternative alignment on April 12, 2018. Task Force members recommended an alignment referred to as “W1”. The bridge is expected to be designed for pedestrians, bicyclists and emergency vehicles.
March 20, 2018 - Project Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) members have completed their scoring on of three bridge alternatives based upon their expertise. Their scoring results can be found here. Project Task Force members will meet April 12 at 6 pm to consider these scores. If members agree, the Task Force may make deviations from the Technical Advisory Committee’s scoring.
February 5, 2018 - Over the last six months project leaders at the City of Wilsonville, the US Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and the Oregon Department of Transportation have carefully reviewed the project’s approach to environmental permitting and have agreed to an environmental assessment (EA) review process. An EA is a more intensive environmental review process than was previously envisioned for the project. This type of study is necessary to comply with federal requirements associated with the uncertainty surrounding potential project impacts.
September 29, 2017 - Following our second set of committee meetings in May, French Prairie Bridge project team members have been hard at work to complete the archaeology and historic resources field work for our next set of meetings.
The archaeology and historic resource information gathered through the field work is a required component of the environmental process to select the preferred bridge alignment. As a result, the bridge alignment recommendation must be based on a proper assessment of the collected field data.
June 20, 2017 - The French Prairie Bridge Project Task Force met on May 22 to consider evaluation criteria that are to be used to make a bridge alignment recommendation later this fall to the Wilsonville City Council.
The project Technical Advisory Committee (TAC), composed of project partners and agency officials with regulatory authority, developed draft project evaluation criteria for consideration by the task force.
After extensive discussion and consideration, the task force recommended that the project decision-making criteria be weighted as follows:
May 3, 2017 - The City of Wilsonville is hosting a French Prairie Bridge Project advisory Task Force meeting on Monday, May 22, 6-9 p.m., at City Hall, 29799 SW Town Center Loop East, Wilsonville. All meetings are open to the public; interested community members are invited to attend.
April 6, 2017 - Citizen Task Force and Technical committees met earlier this year to advise on the process of bridge location and type. The French Prairie Bridge Project Task Force reviews key information and provides recommendations to the City Council, at key milestones in the planning and design process. The group’s membership provides representation of a wide range of stakeholder values and interests and includes residents of Wilsonville and surrounding areas.
September 28, 2018 - Community members still have time to participate in the French Prairie Bridge Project’s online open house that closes on Sunday, March 12. To learn about the project, watch a video, take a survey and provide feedback on the proposed bike-pedestrian-emergency bridge design project visit www.FrenchPrairieBridgeProject.org.
The Online Open House is an opportunity to for community members and stakeholders to:
February 3, 2017 - The City of Wilsonville Committee for Citizen Involvement is hosting a public open-house for the French Prairie Bridge Project on Wednesday, Feb. 22, 5–7 p.m., at City Hall, 29799 SW Town Center Loop East, Wilsonville. The public event features members of the project management team providing an overview of the proposed bicycle/pedestrian/emergency-access crossing of the Willamette River with short presentations at 5:30 p.m. and 6:15 p.m.
January 12, 2017 - The City of Wilsonville is hosting a public open house for the French Prairie Bridge Project on Wednesday, Feb. 22, 5–7 p.m., at City Hall, 29799 SW Town Center Loop East, Wilsonville. The public event features members of the project management team providing an overview of the proposed bicycle/pedestrian/emergency-access crossing of the Willamette River west of the I-5 Boone Bridge.
September 30, 2016 - The City of Wilsonville invites interested members of the public to apply to serve on an advisory task force for the French Prairie Bridge Project. The scope of this project includes developing preliminary designs for a proposed bicycle/pedestrian/emergency responder crossing of the Willamette River west of the I-5 Boone Bridge. Task force members are to meet at least four times over the next two years to discuss technical analyses, public input and project recommendations. Task force applications are due by Friday, Oct.
