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The project to construct the Gibbs Street Pedestrian Bridge requires a lot of coordination, which could be expected for a 700-foot-wide bridge being built over Interstate 5.

For general contractor of Eugene, however, traffic logistics is not the project’s biggest challenge.

鈥淎s a bridge contractor, we’re fairly used to working with traffic,鈥� Wildish project manager Ryan Elliott said. 鈥淲hat’s really different is the elevator.鈥�

A tower for an elevator large enough to hold bicycles or wheelchairs will connect the bridge’s east side to the South Waterfront District. The elevator is merely one project challenge facing Wildish.

鈥淭here are a lot of architectural items, like windows and window frames, that we don’t normally (install),鈥� Elliott said. 鈥淣othing is plumb or square.鈥�

As a result, the team has adopted a different approach than usual. For example, Elliott said the team does not normally communicate with architects, but the project’s designer from CH2M HILL was on the construction site Thursday afternoon.

Presently, crews are working on the elevator tower and sidewalk and curb improvements on both ends of the bridge. During the first two weeks of October, crews will install the girders that connect the four bridge columns, and also pour the concrete deck.

Some lanes of I-5 will be closed while the bridge deck is being installed; however, that will happen in phases, so a complete closure of the freeway won’t be necessary, Biggs said.

When it’s completed, the Gibbs Street Pedestrian Bridge will be open directly under the OHSU tram car 24 hours a day. It will include an at-grade entrance on the west side of I-5, and the elevator tower and stairway entrance on the east side. The stairway will include a 鈥渨heel trough鈥� so that bicycles can be rolled along the stairs. A multilevel weir wall system next to the stairs will hold planters to manage storm water.

The stairs and weirs must all be installed along the steep slope between Macadam Avenue and the South Waterfront District, which is a challenging and tight site sandwiched between a day care facility, busy streets and other construction projects. On the west side, the site is even tighter and has less parking because it’s in the middle of a residential neighborhood.

Gibbs Street project crews must coordinate with others working nearby in the South Waterfront District. Work is under way to clean up the Zidell site, build the Portland-to-Milwaukie light-rail bridge, and raise Moody Avenue.

Portland Bureau of Transportation project manager Jean Senechal Biggs said that PBOT is working to coordinate the Moody Avenue and Gibbs Street Pedestrian Bridge projects. PBOT is managing the two projects, and some staffers, including Biggs, are working on both.

鈥淭here’s definitely coordination going on,鈥� Biggs said.

On Thursday afternoon, Moody Avenue project crews were working directly outside the fence where crews were working on the Gibbs Street elevator tower. Moody Avenue crews have even had to come inside the fence to work, Elliott said.

鈥淚t’s made getting into the site that much more challenging,鈥� he said.

Work on the $6.7 million Gibbs Street Pedestrian Bridge project started in January, and is expected to be completed next March 鈥� about two months later than planned originally.