A group called Friends of Frog Ferry is looking at the feasibility of ferrying people between Vancouver and Portland.
Aboard the Portland Spirit cruise vessel on the Willamette River last week, Friends of Frog Ferry hosted a press conference to talk about the ferry plans. The group’s goal is to bring passenger ferry service to the metro area along the Columbia and Willamette, but first, it needs to conduct a series of studies which will require stakeholder support to fund.
A release from Friends of Frog Ferry indicates that ferry service could take 500 cars off the road during rush hour. Group founder and president Susan Bladholm said that the initial phase would include stops at the Port of Vancouver’s Terminal 1 and the Salmon Street Springs fountain in downtown Portland. A one-way trip would take about 38 minutes.
Bladholm said the first phase could feature three vessels with two in operation at a time. Each vessel would hold 149 passengers, but would not feature car carriage like ferries in the Puget Sound area. She said downtown Portland parking as well as the overall transit future of the city made including cars in the equation counterintuitive.
Bladholm said that “every single major river city in the nation has a service” like a ferry except for Portland. She said the riverways could be an asset for commuters, local tourists and potentially in an emergency situation should a natural disaster take out bridges.
“But first we need to do our homework,” Bladholm said, referencing five studies that needed to be completed, in part in order to secure federal funding. She said those studies would cost about $650,000 in total, though she reasoned it would be significantly less than if a public agency took on the studies themselves given partnership support already secured or planned on in the coming months.
The money for the study isn’t already in Friends of Frog Ferry’s hands, Bladholm said during questions, though recently the group has been garnering public support.
Friends of Frog Ferry is currently negotiating with agencies like the Oregon Transportation Commission and Portland’s Metro regional government, the latter of which includes ferries in its regional transportation plan. On the Washington side, Bladholm said Friends of Frog Ferry has met with Vancouver’s city manager, Eric Holmes, and mayor Anne McEnerny-Ogle.
Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler is also in favor of the plan, with his chief of staff Michael Cox saying the mayor “fully supports” moving forward with feasibility studies.
Dan Yates, owner of the Portland Spirit, said that in order to avoid the need for bridge lifts the vessel would be a single story. After decades of off-and-on work trying to get a ferry in the region, the captain said it was “absolutely critical” that studies be completed to move forward.
Bladholm said subsequent phases could include upwards of eight stops along the rivers. With a public-private partnership, she believes the ferry service could be launched within four years.
Though eyeing ferry service, Bladholm said Friends of Frog Ferry was in support of a replacement bridge for Interstate 5.
“To us, we don’t believe this is an either-or conversation,” Bladholm said. She explained that a new bridge could take decades while ferry service could come in 2022 based on the group’s projections.
