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A retired firefighter said every Portland, OR bridge would cut off each part of the city. This report doesn't cover this explicitly, but it's pretty clear that

A retired firefighter said every Portland, OR bridge would cut off each part of the city. This report doesn't cover this explicitly, but it's pretty clear that is a major complications to overcome anecdotally.

ianburrell 3y ago
There are new bridges that should stay up and offer way across the river after quake. Lots of smaller bridges are going to come down. I don’t know why there isn’t more focus on them. They should be easier to retrofit. And at least have one in each area that will stay up to keep city connected. For example, I live near hospital but it is on other side of freeway and have no idea if will be reachable.
- tadfisher 3y ago
  Fremont bridge was the first earthquake-rated design put in. The Marquam has seen seismic upgrades, the Tilikum is brand new and should be fine, as is the new Sellwood Bridge replacement. Every other bridge has been touched since the 80s/90s, but I don't have a lot of faith that, say, the Steel or Hawthorne will stay up.
  - ianburrell 3y ago
    The Fremont bridge should stay up. But the approaches will collapse making it unusable. The Tilikum and Sellwood bridge are the only new ones designed to survive. They have started working on replacing the Burnside bridge. The lift and draw bridges would be destroyed.
- brewdad 3y ago
  Everyone focuses on the big bridges, which won’t do well in Portland, but no one thinks about the small bridges across creek crossings in neighborhoods and surface streets. I have to cross 3 creeks before I even get to the highway. I’ll be walking/wading out.
sonofhans 3y ago
I live in PDX. There are about a dozen bridges. If even one were left standing over the Willamette it wouldn’t be too bad — at least families could reunite. There are a lot of boats on the river too, and it’s not wide or strong, so people could get ferried across. Regular commute and business traffic would disappear, of course. None of those things are true for the Columbia River separating Oregon and Washington. There aren’t many bridges and they’re very long. The river is non-trivial to cross. That would be a big mess.
- finnh 3y ago
  oooof I'm imagining having to drive east on 90 to cross the Columbia at Vantage just to drive from Seattle to Portland... (many bridges would have to go down for this to be the only way, of course)
  - cossatot 3y ago
    Earthquake-induced landsliding is common enough that neither 90 or 14 may be open after an M 9 event, especially during the rainy season.
- jasonwatkinspdx 3y ago
  Yeah, we'd need to borrow ferries from somewhere. But if it's the big one, Puget sound is also probably a mess so there goes the obvious option.
  - lotsofpulp 3y ago
    What would happen to the sound in the event of an earthquake? I figure equipment to unload boats might be damaged, but the boats themselves should be able to come and go as before, no?
    - jasonwatkinspdx 3y ago
      The cascadia subduction zone extends from north of Vancouver island to NorCal. The sound is expected to see 8+ on the Richter scale. So they'll probably have too many of their own problems to lend help to Portland.

ianburrell 3y ago

There are new bridges that should stay up and offer way across the river after quake. Lots of smaller bridges are going to come down. I don’t know why there isn’t more focus on them. They should be easier to retrofit. And at least have one in each area that will stay up to keep city connected. For example, I live near hospital but it is on other side of freeway and have no idea if will be reachable.

tadfisher 3y ago
Fremont bridge was the first earthquake-rated design put in. The Marquam has seen seismic upgrades, the Tilikum is brand new and should be fine, as is the new Sellwood Bridge replacement. Every other bridge has been touched since the 80s/90s, but I don't have a lot of faith that, say, the Steel or Hawthorne will stay up.
- ianburrell 3y ago
  The Fremont bridge should stay up. But the approaches will collapse making it unusable. The Tilikum and Sellwood bridge are the only new ones designed to survive. They have started working on replacing the Burnside bridge. The lift and draw bridges would be destroyed.
brewdad 3y ago
Everyone focuses on the big bridges, which won’t do well in Portland, but no one thinks about the small bridges across creek crossings in neighborhoods and surface streets. I have to cross 3 creeks before I even get to the highway. I’ll be walking/wading out.

sonofhans 3y ago

I live in PDX. There are about a dozen bridges. If even one were left standing over the Willamette it wouldn’t be too bad — at least families could reunite. There are a lot of boats on the river too, and it’s not wide or strong, so people could get ferried across. Regular commute and business traffic would disappear, of course. None of those things are true for the Columbia River separating Oregon and Washington. There aren’t many bridges and they’re very long. The river is non-trivial to cross. That would be a big mess.

finnh 3y ago
oooof I'm imagining having to drive east on 90 to cross the Columbia at Vantage just to drive from Seattle to Portland... (many bridges would have to go down for this to be the only way, of course)
- cossatot 3y ago
  Earthquake-induced landsliding is common enough that neither 90 or 14 may be open after an M 9 event, especially during the rainy season.
jasonwatkinspdx 3y ago
Yeah, we'd need to borrow ferries from somewhere. But if it's the big one, Puget sound is also probably a mess so there goes the obvious option.
- lotsofpulp 3y ago
  What would happen to the sound in the event of an earthquake? I figure equipment to unload boats might be damaged, but the boats themselves should be able to come and go as before, no?
  - jasonwatkinspdx 3y ago
    The cascadia subduction zone extends from north of Vancouver island to NorCal. The sound is expected to see 8+ on the Richter scale. So they'll probably have too many of their own problems to lend help to Portland.