It makes me a little nervous that a project manager would sound so negative about such a public project. But it's nice to see that construction will finally get started.
Does anyone know specifics about the construction timeline? Will they start at one end or get going on the top and bottom at the same time? I can't wait to see it go up.
Tram plan is juggling act, not a slam dunk
Thursday, July 21, 2005
Fred Leeson
The Oregonian
Being a sports fan, Don Irwin pictures himself down 15 points halfway through the fourth quarter of a Blazer game.
Can he still win?
"We'll need some luck along the way, and we'll need to make some of our own luck," he says. The buzzer sounds Sept. 30, 2006.
Irwin is construction supervisor for the Portland Aerial Tram. By his estimate, it's a 16- to 18-month project that needs to be finished in 14, starting next month.
And the $40 million budget? It may or may not be enough, depending on international steel and cement markets.
Irwin knows construction. He supervised U.S. Veterans Administration medical construction and remodeling projects in five cities from 1972 to 1991, ending in Portland and Vancouver. Then he helped TriMet build the westside and Interstate MAX projects. He is on loan to the city of Portland for the tram project.
Irwin brought Interstate MAX home several months early and $25 million under budget. TriMet used the extra money to buy seven extra rail cars.
Better yet, Irwin, who's also a lawyer, finished the Interstate project with no squabbles with the contractors. Unlike some earlier projects, TriMet spent zero on lawyers and litigation.
The cost-cutting challenge looks tougher on the tram, which will travel 3,450 feet between the Oregon Health & Science University and the South Waterfront urban renewal district.
There are only three structures -- two landing stations and an intermediate tower. "It's all necessary and also complex," Irwin says. About 70 percent of the budget will be concrete and steel, yet another reason why scrimping is difficult.
The most difficult piece is the upper station, connecting to the ninth floor of a new medical building. "The footprint is a postage stamp," Irwin says. "The structural solution is unique and very complex."
Project leaders have met with residents under the tram and will meet with them more as the project moves ahead. "We will tell them how it is to be built and when their front yards will be disrupted," Irwin says. "We'll try our best to minimize the pain that comes with any construction project."
Tram cars will float approximately 70 feet above the ground. A one-way trip will take about 21/2 minutes. Tram cars were designed to be "bubbles in the sky," Irwin says, to make them unobtrusive as possible.
But, he adds, each tram car will be about half the size of a TriMet bus. "It will be noticeable," he says. "But I'm hopeful it won't be negatively noticeable."
The university is banking on the South Waterfront as a new area for expansion, with the tram as the people-connecting link. Irwin's opinion of the tram: "Short of a tunnel and an elevator -- which would be tremendously expensive -- it's a great solution."
Fred Leeson: 503-294-5946;
[email protected]
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