North Portland City crews scramble to manage a major sewage leak under the N Columbia Boulevard Bridge. The leak has been contained, but they're still fighting to stop the stink and environmental impact. In a statement posted on the city's website, the workers have been hammering away both day and night using barriers to box in the breakage, and then they're pumping the waste back into the city system to keep the sloughs as clean as they can under the cruddy circumstances.
According to authorities, while the sewage outflow is now under control, the pipe problem is going to take two weeks of repair work, and all the while, the area’s residents and businesses are promised they'll still get the services they count on without interruption despite the situation.
Environmental Services is laying it on the line with signs posted all around the danger zone, letting everyone know that until this ordeal is over, making contact with the water there could be detrimental.
The traffic trouble is no drop in the bucket either, N Columbia Boulevard’s a no-go between N Rivergate and N Burgard roads, until at least next week. Adding to the strain, the Portland Bureau of Transportation engineers are tagging in to check out whether the high-pressure sewage situation has shaken the soils supporting the bridge ramp or the ramp structure itself.
