Okay, not to rain on the tunnel parade but Seattle isn’t the only metropolitan area in the Pacific Northwest with a pressing mega-project in waiting.
Combine river, wind, eco-friendliness and smooth sailing across the Columbia River and what do you have? A new Interstate 5 bridge with wind turbines generating electricity.
You read that right: The latest bridge design features vertically spinning turbines that would generate an unknown amount of juice while proclaiming loudly that the Portland-Vancouver area is the sustainability center of the world.
Personally, since I don’t live in Seattle, I’ve refrained from commenting much on the whole tunnel versus surface thing. You folks who live there should get the major say.
But since you can’t put wind turbines in your tunnel, you lose the coolness war. Sorry.
Now fork over some more money for down here too. Whaaaa? Money is tight to non-existent?
Oh. Could we have a rowboat or something?
I thought they did have a say. Wasn’t there some kind of advisory vote? ;-)
If I lived in the city limits, next time they hold an advisory vote on anything I’d write in “cram it up your @$$3$, you wankers!”
The 520 bridge could have wind generation though. Not sure how well the extra resistance up high would stress a floating bridge though. Still, lower tolls, green energy….Hmmmm I like it!!
I liked one of the comments in the linked article.
…at least it’s a bridge to somewhere.
The visualizations are interesting.
I suggest that Portland/Vancouver explore the surface option alternative to the bridge over the Columbia.
I’ve got a used rowboat for $75 and a pair of oars for $20.
The tunnel will have plenty of wind generation. Just stick a turbine in front of the politicians’ mouths and you’ll have all the electricity you need.
The suicidal can either jump or electrocute themselves. That’s what America is all about:
CHOICE!
…and that’s what makes Portland really cool.
If it happens, would Trimet be paying for some of the power. Some of the critics they have had over the years claim the electricity generated for it creates pollution.(I think it was the Libertarian Cascade Policy Institute, but then again, I think the Libertarians hate the BPA, with it’s cheap, public, hydro-electric power, where much of the power used in the Pacific Northwest comes from). This will be a visible sign that it is clean. That and I am sure the passing trains will cause the turbines to spin.
As for the bridge design itself, it should have some artistic features, as this is not just a bridge over a river, it is a Gateway Bridge linking two states.
Somehow, I can’t help but think this will end up in keeping with Portland’s long-standing tradition of building the ugliest bridges on earth.
It probably will. Although they should at least try to balance functionality, sustainability, and some kind of artistic design. The Steel Bridge might look ugly to some, but I am sure there are probably engineers that like it for it’s functionality. It is a double deck drawbridge, but the public does not get to be on the Second Deck unless they are going to Eugene or points south, that is where Union Pacific Freight Trains and some Amtrak trains cross the Willamette. On the upper deck, cars, trucks, buses, and MAX Trains share the same lanes. TriMet is going to need their own crossing soon, they will learn that starting in September when the Green Line to Clackamas goes on line. It too will cross the Willamete and use the Blue Line spine as far as Gateway(Junction)Transit Center.
The St John’s bridge is pretty.
http://columbiariverimages.com.....k_2006.jpg
It does. The height of it reminds me of the images I have seen of NYC’s Hell Gate Bridge. It towers above the neighborhood it goes through.
All hydro dams ahould have wind turbines on them. Think about it. You already have the transmission capacity and the maint and opp workforce right there.
Bridges are good and so is state owned land.
13
You got a good point. If the wind velocity works out, should be tried. Wonder if Seattle City Light would try it with Ross Dam, but remember, Seattle City Light is good at promoting tourism at their Dam Sites. It is a long tradition. Now Bonneville Dam, might be worth trying that out. Also, who owns the shoreline. Offshore wind is turning into a potential power source, with more powerful turbines than on land, but a massive NIMBY problem is brewing.
@13 Dams also have a natural source of wind from the politicians who come to dedicate them.
While Oregon is calling for a smaller I-5 bridge with more rail options, and building wind turbines within it, what is the line the struck me most from Gregoire’s inaugural speech?
Referring to her “Washington Jobs Now” program, which she hopes will echo the New Deal, Gregoire says, “it will leave a legacy of roads.”
Indeed.
I know that is cherry picking from a sentence that also includes every Dem pols favorite term, “green collar jobs,” but still.
Roads in the 21st century? That’s not change we can believe in.
It will be interesting to see what happens. Roads will probably see a focus because they are probably more shovel ready. I heard that Sound Transit might be asking among stimulus requests, to extend Central LINK to S.200th Street, just south of Sea-Tac Airport. Being part of the original plan in Sound Move, but was cut-back during the doldrums a few years ago, it might be the closest to LINK being Shovel Ready that may not already be funded.
MAX crossing the Columbia River, something that has been talked about for years, but Clark County voters voted it down once, but so did voters in the TriMet district, and still the Yellow Line stops short of the river, and was built. 7 years ago I was down there, and saw why they were building it. Part of the reason might be TriMet’s aversion to articulated buses, I saw 2 buses back to back on a trip of the 5-Interstate Ave bus. Another was that it was a short extension off the existing line. Last year I was down there and took the Yellow Line for a few stations, and the train was full. Now it would be even better if they built a subway for MAX under Downtown, so they can run 4 car trains. The biggest they can because of the surface constraints in Downtown Portland is 2 cars. A MAX car is around 90ft long. ST LINK will be running up to 4 car trains once it is extended.
I wonder if there’d be a way to retrofit such systems on to other bridges spanning the Columbia. Those bridges that cross the Gorge could make a lot of juice….
In L.A. today, I had dinner last night with my colleagues from the L.A. office. We were comparing commute times and traffic horror stories. They still had the L.A. bias that nothing could be as bad as L.A. traffic, and still seemed skeptical that it could take me over an hour to commute between Bellevue and Everett, a distance of some 35 miles, in over an hour during the normal rush hour.
But then we started talking about the Tokyo train system, and immediately agreed that it was superior to any urban transportation system in the U.S.
One of the newer advantages: Japan has some new strict drunk-driving laws. Based upon zero tolerance, you simply cannot have a drink of any amount on the same day you drive. Any blood alchohol reading at all will put you in jail, result in immediate loss of your job, and you would have poor prospects of ever getting another one. But if you are taking the trains, it’s no problem – as long as you don’t miss the last train home for the night.
Wasn’t there a company that proposed to build the same Narrows bridge for much cheaper if they were just allowed to put tidal generators on the bridge and sell back power?
What happened to that?
As to retrofitting dams or other bridges there is a serious consideration around adverse stress added by drag.
19)
TRAINS Magazine read an article on Shinjuku Station in Tokyo, world’s busiest passenger train station, and the irony, none of JR Group’s Bullet Trains, the ShinkKansens pull into it, but all the trains that do, are packed. I did a little looking on the Internet for more info on the Tokyo Subway. Turns out there are 2 different companies operating the system, and buses are rare, either as feeders, or to serve areas that are underserved by the subway, which there are not too many of.