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Post by lebaneaver on Apr 18, 2022 15:40:17 GMT -8
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Post by wilkyisdashiznit on Apr 18, 2022 23:05:05 GMT -8
Boo! Oldest bridge on the Willamette South of the Hawthorne Bridge in Portland. A fun fact is that the Van Buren Bridge was built, because of a special election on November 22, 1912. What is important about that election is that it was the first election that women had the right to vote in Corvallis. Oregon was the seventh state to allow women the right to vote after having passed an initiative to amend the Constitution in the November 5, 1912 election. I believe that the results were made official about November 19, 1912, with women getting the right to vote immediately. (Arizona and Kansas also passed initiatives on November 5, 1912, but I believe that it took Kansas longer to certify results. And Arizona's women's suffrage vote did not go into effect until 1913 by its terms.) |
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Post by lebaneaver on Apr 18, 2022 23:21:11 GMT -8
Wilky…….. IF you still lived here in the Willamette Valley and NOT the valley of the (too damn hot) sun….. and had cause to exit downtown Corvallis more than occasionally….. you TOO would wish for a newer, better, more efficient, thoroughly modern bridge. Amen. 😬
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Post by Judge Smails on Apr 19, 2022 4:36:06 GMT -8
Wilky…….. IF you still lived here in the Willamette Valley and NOT the valley of the (too damn hot) sun….. and had cause to exit downtown Corvallis more than occasionally….. you TOO would wish for a newer, better, more efficient, thoroughly modern bridge. Amen. 😬 No kidding. I love preserving older buildings, bridges, etc. But, there is nothing architecturally significant about that bridge. It’s just old and very inefficient for getting out of Corvallis. |
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Post by Werebeaver on Apr 19, 2022 7:22:08 GMT -8
Looks great to me. With a dedicated, parallel bike and pedestrian lane! Fantastic. I can't believe the nostalgia for that ancient, barely functional narrow, one-lane, weight restricted, height restricted, bridge. On the other hand, I can. Nostalgia is an intoxicating, comforting security blanket when so much seems to be changing, and people born in the 50's, 60's and 70's are experiencing "intimations of mortality". We find comfort in old, decrepit non-functional relics. Maybe, we even identify with them.  |
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Post by Henry Skrimshander on Apr 19, 2022 9:44:27 GMT -8
The only thing I wish they would do with the new bridge is have it dump out onto 2nd Street, like the Harrison Street Bridge does. Then 1st Street could be open all along the river and provide another way to get out of downtown. But I understand how much more expensive it would be to do the project that way.
And to echo other's thoughts here, almost everyone who lives in Benton or Linn counties who drives to and from Corvallis on a regular basis will be thrilled to see this albatross relegated to the scrap heap.
Now we need an overpass at the bypass intersection, which at the current time is another major impediment to traffic moving smoothly and efficiently out of downtown.
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Post by rgeorge on Apr 19, 2022 10:18:29 GMT -8
Looks great to me. With a dedicated, parallel bike and pedestrian lane! Fantastic. I can't believe the nostalgia for that ancient, barely functional narrow, one-lane, weight restricted, height restricted, bridge. On the other hand, I can. Nostalgia is an intoxicating, comforting security blanket when so much seems to be changing, and people born in the 50's, 60's and 70's are experiencing "intimations of mortality". We find comfort in old, decrepit non-functional relics. Maybe, we even identify with them. Even with nostalgia, I can't see anyone missing that bridge if they were around when it was the only bridge, a 2-way overpass made for nightmares when you were first behind the wheel. You could have swore mirrors were going to touch. Question for those who read more carefully or may know if info was omitted. I'm not a cyclist, so why (2) bike lanes? In my brief glance it mentioned both a partitioned lane shared with peds and one with traffic. I can understand the safety factor of the having it partitioned, why the extra? The two eventually have to merge, so will there be a dedicated bike lane on 34? For how far? On the west end it seems to come from a sidewalk access. Would there be a merge from the street bike lane where bikes make a choice? Will the partitioned pathway be two-way over the river? And, will peds and bikes sharing the one path cause the same issues we see on other shared pathways, especially if it is two-way? Although I do not see that many peds using the current bridge for walking?! |
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Post by wilkyisdashiznit on Apr 19, 2022 15:55:27 GMT -8
Unless there is a great reason not to, I usually go around over the Bypass Bridge. When I do get caught downtown and have to go over the Van Buren Bridge, it always seems to me that awful drivers (mostly Husky fans) rather than the bridge are the real issue. But I have been told before (several times) that I am a cynic.
I've got a sawbuck that the new bridge will be just as clogged with morons (mostly Husky fans) after football gamedays as the old bridge and that it will save no more time but will be just that much less awesome. Progress! (Or something?)
On the other hand, if it is not going to survive the next big earthquake, which is going to happen any day now (not in our lifetimes) they probably need to rip out the bridge and build a new one anyway. Progress! (Or something?)
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Post by Judge Smails on Apr 19, 2022 16:36:16 GMT -8
Unless there is a great reason not to, I usually go around over the Bypass Bridge. When I do get caught downtown and have to go over the Van Buren Bridge, it always seems to me that awful drivers (mostly Husky fans) rather than the bridge are the real issue. But I have been told before (several times) that I am a cynic. I've got a sawbuck that the new bridge will be just as clogged with morons (mostly Husky fans) after football gamedays as the old bridge and that it will save no more time but will be just that much less awesome. Progress! (Or something?) On the other hand, if it is not going to survive the next big earthquake, which is going to happen any day now (not in our lifetimes) they probably need to rip out the bridge and build a new one anyway. Progress! (Or something?) The problem is every day, not just football games. Van Buren gets backed up 12-15 blocks on average around 5:15 pm. Of course, you would know that if you lived here. |
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Post by lebaneaver on Apr 19, 2022 17:39:34 GMT -8
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