The Portland area is $10M closer to its only earthquake

Multnomah County is $10 million closer to funding Portland’s only earthquake-proof bridge over the Willamette River.

It’s a small dent in the estimated $895 million price tag to rebuild the Burnside Bridge, but county Chair Jessica Vega Pederson said in a statement Tuesday that “every dollar counts.”

“Multnomah County’s Earthquake Ready Burnside Bridge Project is more than a bridge – it’s an investment in the infrastructure our region will require to recover from the devastation we anticipate in the wake of a Cascadia-level earthquake,” Vega Pederson said.

The county will get the money from the Metro regional government, which pulled the $10 million from a pot of federal funds it doles out every two to three years. The allocation comes as the county grapples with uncertainty in its