Talk:Interstate 205 (Oregon–Washington)/GA1

GA Review
The edit link for this section can be used to add comments to the review.''

Reviewer: Bneu2013 (talk · contribs) 06:01, 10 December 2021 (UTC)

I will be reviewing the article section by section, and will have comments soon. I will strike each comment as it is addressed. Bneu2013 (talk) 06:01, 10 December 2021 (UTC)

Route description

 * I-205 crosses the Willamette River on the sloped Abernethy Bridge, which carries six lanes for 2,727 feet (831 m) into Oregon City and is capped at the east by an interchange with OR 99E. - does the route only carry six lanes across the bridge, or does the six-lane segment continue?
 * Fixed, the 6-lane section starts on the bridge but continues.
 * The concurrency with OR 213 ends at a partial cloverleaf interchange with OR 224 (the Sunrise Expressway) on the west side of Mount Talbert near several radio towers. - link "partial cloverleaf interchange".
 * Done.
 * North of Gilsan Street, the freeway intersects I-84 and US 30 near the Gateway/Northeast 99th Avenue Transit Center, where the MAX Green Line turns west. I-205 and I-84 travel parallel for one mile (1.6 km) along the base of Rocky Butte, following a section of the MAX Red Line on the I-205 Transitway. - consider mentioning that I-205 begins a brief concurrency with I-84 at the end of this sentence. Also, the second sentence could give the impression that I-205 and I-84 don't actually form a concurrency, but instead run next to each other on separate parallel alignments (there actually are a few cases of this is the U.S.). However, this probably isn't a huge issue.
 * I-205 and I-84 are never concurrent, they run parallel for a mile on two different grades.
 * I-84 and US 30 turn east towards the Columbia River Gorge at Northeast Fremont Street, while I-205 continues north around the suburban enclave of Maywood Park with the light rail trackway in its median. - add "then" after "US 30". Also, this seems to indicate that I-205 also forms a concurrency with US 30. If so, consider clarifying this in the preceding sentence.
 * Again, no concurrency. Not done.
 * I-205 crosses the Columbia River and Government Island on the eight-lane Glenn L. Jackson Memorial Bridge, a concrete segmental bridge that spans a total of 11,750 feet (3,580 m) between Oregon and Washington. -is the bridge the only section that is eight lanes? The traffic volume sounds high for a freeway that is only temporarily eight lanes (such as auxiliary lanes between two exits on a six-lane segment).
 * Most of I-205 in Portland is six lanes with auxiliary lanes between certain interchanges. The bridge is the widest point on the freeway, but this can't be reliably sourced.
 * If you wished to include this, you could probably IAR and use Google Maps as the source. I seem to remember doing this on one of my interstate GAs.
 * The interchange, located southwest of Washington State University Vancouver, is incomplete and requires some movements to be made by a pair of half-diamond interchanges on Northeast 134th Street. - which directions of travel are required to use these interchanges?
 * Added "I-5 towards Vancouver", as using NB/SB would not be accurate.

Planning and routing debate

 * The Portland Improvement Plan of 1943, conceived by New York-based planner Robert Moses, included a "scenic thoroughfare" bypassing Portland to the east, as well as an inner loop of major roads in the downtown area. - New York City or New York (state)?
 * Technically both, but mostly the former (which is now linked).
 * The corridor was among four Portland-area routes included in a 1955 plan from the federal Bureau of Public Roads (BPR) for what would become the Interstate Highway System, approved a year later. - add "which was" in front of "approved"; replace "a" after "approved" with "one".
 * Done.
 * The Oregon State Highway Commission designated it as the Laurelhurst Freeway, generally traveling along Northeast 39th Avenue (now César E. Chávez Boulevard) through the Laurelhurst neighborhood between Tualatin and a new, toll-free bridge over the Columbia River. - was this bridge part of the proposed freeway?
 * It was a separate plan.
 * It was added to Washington's state highway system in 1961 as a branch of Primary State Highway 1, later being renumbered to State Route 205 in 1964. - consider cutting "later being".
 * Done.
 * but was later proposed in the 1960s as the Rivergate Freeway. - did this freeway ever get built?
 * Added "unsuccessfully"
 * The first set of alternatives for the Laurelhurst Freeway, later renamed the Central East Side Freeway and dropped in favor of I-205 - when did this renaming occur? I also understand that the name "Central East Side Freeway" fell out of use after the I-205 designation was approved, is that correct?
 * The renaming was gradual and has no set date. Reworded.
 * or a bridge over the Willamette River that would require freeway construction. - does this mean that they preferred the freeway utilize an existing non-freeway bridge? Consider rephrasing to clarify.
 * Reworded to "induce" and replaced "or" with "and".
 * The Oregon State Highway Commission promised to not pursue a Lake Oswego alignment - when?
 * Added year.
 * The route would then cut back west to cross the Columbia River west of the airport and continue through eastern Vancouver by following 54th Avenue towards Salmon Creek. - comma after "airport".
 * Not necessary, it's a pretty short sentence as it is.
 * The Multnomah County government remained supportive of an east–west route using the Mount Hood Freeway corridor, connecting with a north–south leg along 96th Avenue in eastern Portland, which it estimated would cost $38 million less (equivalent to $244 million in 2019 dollars)[43] than the PVMTS plan. - consider splitting sentence.
 * Done.
 * At the hearing, the Multnomah County Commissioners was joined by the cities of Gresham and Camas, Washington, in supporting the 96th Avenue alignment, while the City of Portland declined to endorse a specific plan. - replace "was" with "were", unless "Multnomah County Commissioners" is a proper name.
 * Done, but it is also a proper name.
 * The Oregon State Highway Commission had planned to send its own recommendation to the Bureau of Public Roads, but delayed action due to a major flood in late December that destroyed several highways. - add year after "December".
 * Added.
 * The commissioners considered moving I-205 to outside of Portland's city limits to avoid confrontations with the city government, who later opened negotiations after receiving pressure from state legislators. - cut "to" before "outside".
 * Replaced with "beyond"
 * The Portland Planning Commission responded by proposing the 52nd Avenue alignment through Laurelhurst in lieu of widening arterial streets and a new east–west option near the Sellwood Bridge and along Johnson Creek to avoid Lake Oswego. - consider splitting sentence.
 * Done.
 * Facing a July 1 deadline - add year.
 * Done, and reordered.

Tualatin–Clackamas construction

 * This is certainly not a requirement, but is the exact date that the 1972 and 1975 segments were completed and/or opened to traffic given?
 * The newspaper articles do not mention an exact date or even a month.
 * That will do.

Portland delays and design changes

 * The lawsuit delayed planning as Maywood Park lost and appealed through count and state courts, but its final appeal to the U.S. 9th Circuit in 1976 was denied on the grounds that Multnomah County had jurisdiction over the area at the time of its design approval. - consider splitting sentence and change "its" in front of "design" to something like "the freeway's", "the highway's", etc.
 * Done.
 * A total of 87 homes in Maywood Park were demolished to make way for freeway construction, but I-205 was relocated from an elevated viaduct to a trench around the city. - were these homes located where the highway was eventually built? The second part of the sentence seems to indicate that they likely weren't. Consider clarifying. Also, did this proposed viaduct pass through the city?
 * Reordered, as they were demolished for I-205.
 * Reads much better.
 * The lack of a runway expansion and its associated dredging work would necessitate need a longer southern approach, - add "the" and "for" in front of, and after "need", respectively.
 * The "need" was a typo. Removed.
 * Link "light rail" and "Federal Highway Administration".
 * Light rail is already linked in the RD, should be avoided per WP:OLINK.
 * My bad.

Portland and Vancouver construction
The planned growth and its potential encroachment of the Columbia River Gorge led to lobbying for the creation of a national scenic area in 1986 to protect the area from development. - was the scenic area also designated in 1986? Also, the current wording of this sentence sounds a bit off topic. For example, if I-205 was cited as one of the main reasons for the creation of the scenic area (or why proponents wanted the scenic area), you should probably mention this.
 * I-205 and its resulting sprawl were directly cited as the trigger for the national scenic area lobbying. Rephrased.


 * Its completion was delayed to add high fencing near the Rocky Butte Jail to mitigate air and noise pollution until they were transferred to the new Multnomah County Jail in Downtown Portland. - I assume "they" is the inmates. Also, the wording is a bit awkward; this could be interpreted as meaning either the highway was not completed until the transfer occurred, or that the transfer occured after the highway opened. I realize the next sentence states the jail closed after the highway was completed, but still consider rephrasing.
 * Fixed.
 * The parallel transitway on the I-205 corridor was graded but left unfinished, running to the west of the freeway from Foster Road to a tunnel near Division Street, switching to the east side through Gateway and the median from Rocky Butte to Columbia Boulevard. - split sentence.
 * Done.

Later developments

 * Several infill interchanges were added to I-205 as new development on the corridor contributed to worsening traffic congestion on the freeway and adjacent streets, which had increased in Clackamas County by a third between 1983 and 1985. - consider splitting.
 * Done.
 * The new interchange was approved despite opposition from local residents and was completed in November 1990 at a cost of $6.9 million - comma after "residents".
 * Done.

Future Plans

 * ODOT plans to reconstruct a 7-mile (11 km) section of I-205 in Clackamas County between Stafford Road and OR 213 in the 2020s to add a third through lane in each direction and conduct seismic upgrades to the Abernethy Bridge and Tualatin River Bridge. - consider changing "Abernethy Bridge and Tualatin River Bridge" to "Abernethy and Tualatin River bridges".
 * That would not make sense, as the Tualatin River Bridge is not a proper name.
 * The program is planned to begin construction in early 2022 and last until 2028 and cost approximately $700 million. - this sentence reads a bit awkwardly and repetitive. Consider changing "and cost" to "costing", and adding comma after 2028.
 * Fixed.
 * The Glenn L. Jackson Bridge had been deemed capable of handling the weight of light rail vehicles, - according to one of the source dates, this has been known since at least 1985, before the bridge replacement planning began. Consider mentioning this.
 * Done.
 * Among the options considered were a north–south light rail line using either I-5 or I-205 to connect Vancouver to the rest of the MAX Light Rail system - was this considered as an alternative to a new highway bridge? If so, consider including this.
 * It was not, merely an add-on to the new bridge or existing Jackson Bridge.
 * The second iteration of the Columbia River Crossing program, revived in 2019 as the Interstate Bridge Replacement Program, also proposes tolling both I-5 and I-205 to fund the project and also serve as congestion pricing to deter driving. - cut first "also".
 * Fixed.

Images

 * Images look fine and are properly licensed.
 * Consider listing the date of the bridge construction photo in the caption.
 * The photo did not come with an exact date, and trying to estimate it would be WP:OR.

General comments
- Those are all my comments for the general content. I will look at the images and references next. Bneu2013 (talk) 04:01, 15 December 2021 (UTC)
 * Replied to all of your prose suggestions.  Sounder Bruce  06:22, 16 December 2021 (UTC)
 * Second round of replies done.  Sounder Bruce  06:34, 17 December 2021 (UTC)

- one last major issue: the lead section is probably too long. MOS:LEAD states that lead sections should generally be no more than four paragraphs. I don't have any issues with the first three paragraphs, but there seems to be too much information about the construction history. I would suggest condensing and trimming the last two paragraphs into one, summarizing certain points. For example, I would replace "I-205 was extended west to Tualatin and north to Gladstone by 1972, but further expansion into Multnomah County was halted by opposition from local governments. Following negotiations between Oregon, Multnomah County, and Portland, the initial ten-lane design was replaced in 1976 by a six-lane freeway with a parallel busway and multi-use trail." with something that summarizes the fact that there was a redesign, without being overly detailed. - Bneu2013 (talk) 09:36, 19 December 2021 (UTC)
 * Trimmed the lead to leave only four paragraphs.  Sounder Bruce  10:27, 19 December 2021 (UTC)
 * I think that covers everything. Will be passing. Bneu2013 (talk) 10:55, 19 December 2021 (UTC)