The City of Hermiston has, since 2001, included future plans for bridges over the Umatilla River aligning with both Elm Avenue and Punkin Center Roads in the adopted Transportation System Plan. The needs for an additional Umatilla River bridge are many, and the entire region stands to benefit significantly. 

Recent, and future, residential growth in the City of Umatilla is heavily concentrated along Powerline Road, while the bulk of regional commercial and service activity attracts heavy traffic in to Hermiston.  This is already causing noticeable negative impacts to Hermiston's transportation network in the form of traffic stacking on West Highland and SW 11th Street.  Additionally, traffic to/from Hermiston/Umatilla along the Highland Avenue/Powerline Road corridor, leads to numerous regular accidents and near misses at the intersection of Bridge Road & Westland Road.

The City of Hermiston continues to be the fastest growing community in Eastern Oregon, and is now on track to reach nearly 23,000 residents by 2030; which will require adding nearly 1,200 new housing units.  With continued growth, the community will need to continue to add residential, commercial, and industrial land capacity beyond 2030.  There is significant potential for all three located west of the Umatilla River.

The cost of bridge construction is significant; with either of the two options considered here likely to range between $20M and $30M.  Additionally, development of a bridge at either location will have significant 'downstream' and 'upstream' impacts, both positive and negative.  For example, the Elm Avenue option is beneficial because it puts traffic directly in to the State Highway system at 11th & Elm, but the intersection of Elm & 395 can hardly accept any additional traffic.  Meanwhile, the Punkin Center option is beneficial because it puts traffic directly in-line with the existing Powerline Road freeway interchange, but accessing Punkin Center will require a costly 'flyover' crossing of the railroad.

The attached Scope of Work from Anderson Perry & Associates will result in a detailed Preliminary Engineering Report (PER) for both potential bridge locations.  The hope is that the PER will identify a clearly preferable alternative, while also providing preliminary cost estimates and conceptual designs.  The intention is then to begin work toward securing large-scale State and/or Federal funding toward eventual construction sometime within the next 10-20 years.

This MOU outlines support among both cities and the county toward contributing financially to development of the Preliminary Engineering Report.  The MOU specifically limits commitment of the three parties to only an engineering analysis.  Future local partnerships are likely to be developed upon completion and analysis of the PER.

1. Support signing on to the MOU

2. Recommend revisions to the MOU