Frog Ferry keeps churning toward goal
A $10 million state grant is needed to launch the pilot project
The Frog Ferry keeps swimming upstream, paddling against agencies and jurisdictions that so far have been reluctant to welcome a new player into the pool.
Susan Bladholm, founder and president of Friends of Frog Ferry and lifelong Portlander now living in the West Hills, has poured her heart and expertise into the project for eight years, the last six as an unpaid volunteer. The current proposal calls for a pilot project involving a 70-passenger, electric-powered catamaran operating between Cathedral Park under the St. Johns Bridge and Oregon Health Sciences University south of downtown.
Bladholm and friends are seeking $10 million from the Oregon Legislature this session to buy a boat and launch the project. They also need city of Portland approval to use public docks at each end of the route.
The Downtown Neighborhood Association has been an enthusiastic supporter of Frog Ferry for years. Benefits include transportation capacity unaffected by congested streets and bridges, a passenger experience more pleasant than riding a crowded bus or train, minimal infrastructure construction costs and climate-friendly electric power.
Bladholm says that travel time between St. Johns and downtown would be cut approximately in half compared to bus service. Portland economist Joe Cortright, however, thinks the difference will be minimal, even on the strategically chosen pilot route. The original plan to connect to Vancouver, Wash., has been put on the back burner, in part because the route would be much slower than driving.
A broader benefit may be more difficult to quantify. The Willamette River now functions primarily as Portland’s backyard, its sewer, an industrial wasteland and a hiding place for unsanctioned camps. Even so, a trip on the river offers beauty and serenity lacking in most Portlanders’ daily experience. Exposing thousands of people to the river sides of the city could open minds to the possibility of making a river our front door, just as do many of world’s great cities.
Bladholm has had better-paying gigs. She worked for the state under five governors, served at the Port of Portland 10 years and was senior director of marketing and strategy for a global aviation company. She was also the first executive director of Cycle Oregon.
None have meant more to her than Frog Ferry, but there are limits.
“If we don’t get funding in the coming months, our effort will not continue,” she said. “Eight years is a long time, and we have been patient.”
