What's New?

The detailed project schedule explains the major project milestones. Click on the years below to read monthly updates about the project. If you have questions or comments, please let us know.

Traffic leaving the Marion Street Bridge

2011

July 2011 - DEIS Update

Air Quality
The air quality section of the DEIS will discuss air pollutant emissions from construction activities, as well as from cars and trucks that would drive on the project roadways. The analysis is guided by the Clean Air Act, which regulates air quality and sets standards for the amount of pollutants allowed in the air.

The air quality section of the DEIS addresses the following questions for each alternative:

How will construction impact air quality (usually temporary changes)?
How will vehicle operations (trucks and cars) impact air quality (usually long-term changes)?
Does the alternative meet regional standards for carbon monoxide, ozone, and particulate matter?

Please watch for future updates on the Salem River Crossing Project and check the website for more ways to get involved in the future. If you have any questions or comments, please contact us.

June 2011 - DEIS Update

Construction
A discussion of construction methods, activities, and impacts will be included in the DEIS document. This section will describe in general terms how constructing each of the project alternatives would affect nearby roads, buildings, and the natural environment.

The construction report answers the following questions for each alternative:

What changes would be made to the existing roads?
How could current traffic be handled during construction?
How difficult would it be to build a connection between a new or improved bridge and the existing roads?
How much space would be needed for temporary storage of construction materials and equipment?
How would river traffic (boats) be impacted during construction?
About how long would construction take?

Please watch for future updates on the Salem River Crossing Project and check the website for more ways to get involved in the future. If you have any questions or comments, please contact us.

May 2011 - DEIS Update

Energy Analysis
The preliminary DEIS is currently being reviewed by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), and is expected to be published in late summer 2011. See the project schedule for more information about upcoming milestones.

Project construction activities and the operation of vehicles within the study area would consume energy resources, primarily in the form of petroleum. The DEIS will provide an estimate of the amount of energy that would be consumed by vehicle operations (automobiles and trucks) for each of the Salem River Crossing Alternatives, as well as the amount of energy that would be consumed to construct each alternative. The energy analysis uses information from the traffic and transportation report to estimate the total vehicle miles traveled and average vehicle speeds for each alternative.

Key questions about energy that are answered in the report include the following:

How much energy would be consumed by the operation of automobiles and trucks for each alternative?
How much energy would be consumed to construct each alternative?
What are the cumulative impacts of each alternative on energy resources with respect to past, present, and reasonably foreseeable future actions within the study area?

Please watch for future updates on the Salem River Crossing Project and check the website for more ways to get involved in the future. If you have any questions or comments, please contact us.

April 2011 - DEIS Update

Socioeconomic Analysis
The DEIS will discuss potential community impacts that could result from each of the Salem River Crossing alternatives. The analysis identifies the differences among the various alternatives, including the no-build alternative. To avoid duplication with other portions of the DEIS analyses, the socioeconomics technical report focused on answering the following questions:

How much is community character and cohesion affected by each alternative?
How many community facilities are impacted?
What are the impacts to businesses and established business districts?
What are the impacts to social groups including the elderly, disabled, and linguistically-isolated persons? (For more information on low-income and minority population impacts, please see the February 2011 update which covers the Environmental Justice Analysis)

Please watch for future updates on the Salem River Crossing Project and check the website for more ways to get involved in the future. If you have any questions or comments, please contact us.

March 2011 - DEIS Update

Noise Analysis
The DEIS will include a report that looks at the noise impacts of each of the Salem River Crossing alternatives. Changes in noise as a result of the project could be related to changes in the number of vehicles on the roads and where the roads are located. To assess the noise impacts, estimated future noise levels are compared to current noise levels. The noise analysis will answer the following questions:

What are the current noise levels in residential, park and commercial areas in the project area?
For each alternative, will the noise levels change during construction or in the long-term after the project is constructed? If so, by how much?
For each alternative, what steps might need to be taken to address noise impacts? Could any of these steps result in indirect impacts to a residential, park or commercial area?

Please watch for future updates on the Salem River Crossing Project and check the website for more ways to get involved in the future. If you have any questions or comments, please contact us.

February 2011 - DEIS Update

Environmental Justice Analysis
The DEIS includes a report that looks at the construction and long-term effects of the project to low-income and minority populations. This report also describes whether such impacts are disproportionate compared to other populations (for example, does an alternative affect low-income and/or minority populations more than the rest of the population?). This report, called the Environmental Justice report, is required for all federally funded transportation projects that have the potential to cause adverse affects.

Effects can come in the form of benefits (such as easier access to employment centers for those living in the area) or negative impacts (such as creating a barrier that isolates all or a portion of a community). The report brings together information from many other DEIS reports (including economics, social impacts, right-of-way, land use, air quality, and noise) to assess the impacts on low-income and minority communities. Minority communities are considered to be residential or business areas that have large concentrations of African American, Asian American, Native American, Pacific Islander/Native Hawaiian, and Hispanic groups.

The Environmental Justice report answers the following questions:

Would the project result in negative effects that mostly affect low-income or minority populations?
Are there ways to reduce the negative impacts on these populations?
Does the project affect a resource (social, religious, parks, etc.) that is important to the low-income or minority population?

The DEIS Environmental Justice report is meant to give a first impression of the impacts to these communities and represents the analysts’ best professional opinion. Once the DEIS is published, targeted outreach will be conducted to confirm the findings with these groups. Verifying the Environmental Justice report findings is an important part of the process, because data in reports does not tell the whole story. Community members will be able to provide information that will complete the description of potential impacts. This outreach will also provide an opportunity to verify the data included in the report.

Please watch for future updates on the Salem River Crossing Project and check the website for more ways to get involved in the future. If you have any questions or comments, please contact us.

January 2011 - DEIS Update

Land Use Analysis
When the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) is released later this year, it will discuss potential impacts to land use. The land use discussion in the DEIS focuses on how the proposed project would affect how land in the area is used today and how it is planned to be developed and used in the future.

The land use analysis describes the differences among the alternatives, including the no-build alternative, and focuses on the following questions:

How much land would be impacted by each alternative?
How much of the affected land is vacant and how much is developed?
What uses currently exist on the affected developed land?
What is the difference between the alternatives in terms of the type of land that would be impacted? Will the alternatives result in changes or pressures to change the pattern, location, or timing of land uses assumed in local plans?
What is the difference between the alternatives in terms of impacts to special planning districts (such as overlay districts or urban renewal areas)?
How much of the displaced land would be urban (inside the urban growth boundary or UGB) and how much would be rural (outside the UGB)? Could the alternatives result in ubanization pressures on agricultural lands or pressures to expand the UGB?

Please watch for future updates on the Salem River Crossing Project and check the website for more ways to get involved in the future. If you have any questions or comments, please contact us.

2010

December 2010 - Project Visualizations

When any new development is proposed, people often ask how the project will affect the appearance of their city or neighborhood.

The Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) will include a technical analysis of visual impacts from key viewpoints around the city. Key viewpoints are places where the new bridge or roads could be seen.

The DEIS also will include visual simulations to help illustrate the various alternatives and how they might look from these same viewpoints. The simulations will show generally how the alternatives might look, including where they are located, their height, width, etc. Design details – such as lighting, railings, landscaping and other important aesthetic details – will not be developed until after a preferred alternative is selected. When the DEIS is published, the visual simulations will be posted to the project web site for viewing.

The potential visual impacts, as well as any steps that could be taken to reduce the impacts, will be part of the public discussion for deciding on a preferred alternative.

Please watch for future updates on the Salem River Crossing Project and check the website for more ways to get involved in the future. If you have any questions or comments, please contact us.

November 2010 - DEIS Update

Funding the Project

Funding for a major transportation project, such as the Salem River Crossing, will likely come from a combination of local, state and federal sources. Funding sources for the project will be identified after a preferred alternative is selected. A preferred alternative will be chosen based on information contained in the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) and public comment. This process will start with the publishing of the DEIS, which is expected in early 2011. The project is estimated to cost between $200 and $700 million, depending on which alternative is selected. Because there are no federal or state funds identified for the Salem River Crossing, a large portion of its cost is anticipated to be paid from local sources.

Four potential local funding sources that could help pay for the project are:

Vehicle registration surcharge (added to the existing state fee required when a personal or commercial vehicle is registered in Marion and Polk counties)
Local gas tax increase (starting after 2014 due to limits adopted by the Legislature)
Property tax increase
A toll on the new and existing bridges

The Salem River Crossing project funding page provides a tool to explore how much each source, or a combination of sources, could contribute toward the cost of building the project. This page also includes frequently asked funding questions and a funding booklet that provides information about funding options and the need for providing local funding.
If you have any questions or comments, please contact us.

October 2010 - DEIS Update

Businesses and Economic Activities

When considering construction of a major transportation project, people often wonder what the impact to business will be. Will improved traffic flow improve business and economic development in general? Will some alternatives cause there to be too much or too little traffic in a business area? Will individual businesses be physically affected?

One of the reports that the draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) will reference is the Economics Report. This report will discuss the potential impacts to businesses and economic activity at the business district level, such as impacts to buildings, parking, and access. The report defines and analyzes potential effects in five business districts: the Wallace Road Area, the Edgewater Street Area, the Central Business District (downtown Salem), the North Salem Area, and the Keizer Station Area.

Some questions that this report will answer are:

Which business district(s) will be directly impacted by each alternative?
Could a change in traffic patterns, as a result of a given alternative, change the economic activity within a business district?

The report will provide details on the impacts at a business district level and regional level.

Please watch for future updates on the Salem River Crossing project and check the website for more ways to get involved later this year. If you have any questions or comments, please contact us.

July 2010 - DEIS Update

Parks and Historic Places

Public parks, recreation areas, wildlife and waterfowl refuges of national, State or local significance are protected from impacts associated with federally-funded transportation projects under a federal transportation (USDOT) law commonly referred to as Section 4(f). Historic sites that are listed on, or are eligible for, the National Register of Historic Places are also protected under this law.

There are a number of Section 4(f) protected parks, recreation areas and historic sites in the Salem River Crossing Project area. A Draft 4(f) Evaluation is currently being prepared. It will provide an analysis of impacts (referred to as “uses”) to all protected resources and make draft determinations as to the nature of the “use.” In general, the Section 4(f) regulation requires that these protected resources be avoided if at all possible.

The Draft Section 4(f) Evaluation will be available for comment at the same time and in the same manner as the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS). However, it is a separate document that addresses a different federal law. The results of the Draft Section 4(f) analysis could potentially play a substantial role in the selection of a preferred alternative.

Schedule Update

The DEIS will provide detailed analysis of the potential natural environment impacts and will show how the impacts are different among alternatives. These impacts, as well as any steps to offset the impacts, will be part of the public discussion for deciding on a preferred alternative.

Since the last update, staff have been working on completing the technical reports on which the DEIS is based. Most of the reports have been completed and are currently being reviewed and summarized by project staff for inclusion in the DEIS document. The public will have an opportunity to comment on the DEIS when the DEIS is published this winter. Please watch for future updates on the Salem River Crossing project and check here for more ways to get involved later this year. If you have any questions or comments, please contact us.

May 2010 - DEIS Update

The Natural Environment

When the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) is released this fall, it will discuss potential impacts to the natural environment. Some common questions that the DEIS will answer include:

How will wildlife or fish habitat be affected by building a new bridge?
Will air quality in the region be better or worse if a project is built or if construction does not occur?
Are there any earthquake hazards that we should be aware of before selecting a preferred alternative?
How will the project affect wetlands, vegetation, and wildlife habitat?
How will project construction address stormwater runoff?

Schedule Update

Since the last email update, staff have been working on completing the technical reports on which the DEIS is based. Most of the reports have been completed and are currently being reviewed and summarized by project staff. The public will have an opportunity to comment on the DEIS and the impacts to the natural environment, along with other impacts, when the DEIS is published this fall. Please watch for future updates on the Salem River Crossing project and check the website for more ways to get involved later this year. If you have any questions or comments, please contact us.

January 2010 - DEIS Update

Addressing Property Impacts

During a large environmental impact study such as the Salem River Crossing, people often ask how their property might be impacted. Will there be an impact to their property? Their home or business? Although the design team has worked hard to minimize property impacts, every alternative will result in some property impacts.

The draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) will cover this subject in the Right-of-Way discussion, including detailed tables and maps showing the potential physical impacts that could occur and showing how the alternatives are different from each other. Property impacts are one of many issues that will be weighed and balanced in the decision of selecting a preferred alternative – the alternative that is best for the community overall.

When the DEIS is published later this year, ODOT and City of Salem staff will be available to answer questions about potential impacts to specific properties. They will also be ready to talk about the process and the rights of property owners of affected properties. This process is governed by a law called the Uniform Relocation Assistance and Real Properties Acquisition Policies Act of 1970. The purpose of the law is to ensure the fair and equitable relocation and reestablishment of persons, businesses, farms, and nonprofit organizations displaced as a direct result of federal or federally-assisted programs. You can read more about the law HERE. If you have any specific concerns at this time, please send us a comment.

2009

November 2009 - DEIS Update

Measuring Traffic

When the Salem River Crossing Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) is published next year, one of the key points of the study will be traffic issues. How bad will traffic be if we don't do anything? How much better will traffic be if we widen the existing bridges or build a new bridge? Will a new bridge cause people to drive differently? Will there be more traffic on some streets and less on others? These are some of the questions that we ask (and answer) when writing the DEIS.

We will report on several "traffic measures" for each alternative being studied in the DEIS to help understand the benefits and costs of each. One of these measures is the Volume to Capacity (or V/C) ratio. If "ratio" reminds you of learning fractions when you were a kid, you are on the right path. "Volume" is the amount of traffic (trucks and cars) on the road. "Capacity" is the available space on the road. We get the ratio by dividing how much traffic there is by how much space (number of lanes) is available. This tells us how congested the road is during certain hours of the day (usually we look at the morning or evening rush hour in particular). A V/C ratio of 1.0 (100% full) is common in urban areas and shows that there is some congestion. A lower V/C ratio, say 0.85 (85% full) or less, shows good traffic flow since some space is needed for traffic to move freely.

Vehicle Hours of Delay (VHD) is another useful traffic measure. It is a calculation of how much time drivers lose in congestion compared to a world where there is no congestion. This measure is especially useful for comparing one alternative to another because it can be measured for a larger area than a V/C ratio. For example, we will figure out the vehicle hours of delay for all of downtown Salem and west Salem for each alternative being studied. We will then report which of the alternatives performs better (or has the least vehicle hours of delay). The V/C ratio and VHD are two traffic measures that will be reported in the DEIS.

Minimizing congestion for drivers is often the starting goal of a transportation project like this one. But the question - particularly in an urban area like Salem - becomes: what are the costs and impacts of building wider roads or bridges to create less congestion? The DEIS will shed light on these questions. At the same time, there are other options to reduce congestion, such as making it easier to get around in ways other than a personal car (bus, bike, walking, carpooling). The Salem Alternate Modes Study (which is separate from the DEIS) is currently looking at these possibilities. Draft recommendations are available now and over the next two months these recommendations will be prioritized and a summary plan will be published.

Progress on the DEIS
We are continuing to make progress on the DEIS document, including significant progress on the many technical studies. We plan to have it 100% complete next summer. There will be a chance for you to comment on the document when it is published at that time.

Traffic at the intersection of Mission and Commercial

You can also read the November 2009 project update to learn about the activities from the month.

October 2009 - Read the October 2009 project update to learn about the activities from the month.

September 2009 - DEIS Update
While there may not be much in the news these days, there is a lot of work on the Salem River Crossing Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) going on behind the scenes.

For example, one of the foundations of the study is forecasting future traffic volumes - the number of cars and trucks expected to use the roadways twenty years from now. This includes the existing bridges, a potential new bridge, and all the major connecting roadways. The traffic forecasts are key to understanding the differences among all the alternatives being studied. The range of alternatives being studied in the DEIS is intended to provide a variety options for handling future traffic needs; including widening the existing bridges, only building a new bridge, or doing both.

Some of the traffic questions that we ask in the DEIS include:
- What will traffic conditions be like if there are no changes to the river crossings?
- How will the bridge alternatives improve traffic congestion in the future?
- Which locations might have more traffic, and which locations less?

Answers to these questions leads to a number of other questions, including:
- How will the changes in traffic change air quality or noise levels?
- How will changes in traffic impact the local economy?
- How will traffic changes affect neighborhoods on both sides of the river?

The answers to these and many, many other questions will be provided in the DEIS to help interested citizens and agencies decide which alternative they prefer. Comments about the alternatives will be collected after the DEIS is published next year.

Look for more about our progress on the DEIS here or join the mailing list to receive updates via email.

You can also read the September 2009 project update to learn about the activities from the month.

August 2009 - Read the August 2009 project update to learn about the activities from the month.

July 2009 - Read the July 2009 project update to learn about the activities from the month.

June 2009 - DEIS Update and Alternate Modes study
The Salem River Crossing project team is busy working on the draft environmental impact statement (DEIS). Soon, we will begin sending email updates describing the document's progress and how you can get involved once the DEIS is complete.

In the mean time, we'd like to tell you about an important study being conducted in parallel with the DEIS, called the Salem Willamette River Crossing Alternate Modes study. This study will identify needs and opportunities for improving transit service across the river in Salem. It will also cover related needs and opportunities for carpool/vanpool users, bicyclists, and pedestrians. Any improvements identified will be coordinated with the Salem River Crossing project, as needed.

The first Stakeholder Advisory Committee (SAC) meeting for the study will be held on Monday, June 22nd from 4:00-6:00 pm at the Mid-Willamette Valley Council of Governments office (105 High St. SE, Salem). At this meeting, the Alternate Modes study team will provide an overview of the study, discuss the current system, and outline potential improvements that will be considered. This meeting is open to the public and will include a brief period for public comments.

Please watch for future updates on the Salem River Crossing project and check the website for more ways to get involved later this year. If you have any questions, please contact us.
Read the project update to learn about the activities from the June.

May 2009 - Read the May 2009 project update to learn about the activities from the month.

April 2009 - Read the project update to learn about the activities from the April.

March 2009 - Read the March 2009 project update to learn about the activities from the month.

January 2009 - Read the January 2009 project update to learn about the activities from the month.

2011

2010

2009

2008

2007

2006

2002