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From The Oregonian, September 26, 2000
Boat operator paddles his vision of river ferries
 Dan Yates puts the concept in place with a budget and purchase of a fast-speed boat as possible prototype
by DENNIS MCCARTHY
THE OREGONIAN
Dan Yates sees the day when
high-speed passenger ferries will
shuttle up and down the Willamette
River daily, hauling hundreds
of commuters between Portland
and the Clackamas county’s lake
Oswego, Milwaukie and Oregon
City.
As president of American Waterways, which operates three dining
cruise boats-Portland Spirit, Willamette Star and Crystal Dolphin-Yates sees himself as a big part of
the picture. The 41-year-old hopes to operate a fleet of eight commuter ferries.
Although no one’s saying it’s impossible, local elected officials and
regional transportation planners
are hardly ready to jump on board,
mainly because no one knows
where the money might be found.
Cost estimates run as high as $66
million. And there are logistical
and environmental concerns.
Yates says he’s merely investigating the possibilities and that
with growing commuter pressures,
it’s a plan worth considering.
"According to the South Corridor Transportation Plan, all traffic on McLoughlin (Boulevard) is
going to get slower," says Yates.
"Oregonians are getting fed up.
They want to get home faster."
With voters rejecting
multimillion-dollar money measures to build a light rail line into
Clackamas County and traffic
backing up on McLaughlin Boulevard, Yates thinks the time is right to start seriously looking toward
the Willamette River. He envisions
his commuter ferries running from
5:30 a.m. to 10 a.m. and 3:30 p.m.
to 7:30 p.m.
Two months ago, Yates presented a Metro workshop on river transit with his own estimates of what
it would cost to set up a Willamette
River ferry system, including costs
to build the ferries, docking facilities in all four cites, parking garages in Lake Oswego, Milwaukie
and Oregon City, and the costs of
purchasing land in the four cities.
Yates said it would take a combination of federal, state and local funds to make the project go. But
officials in Lake Oswego, Milwaukie
and Oregon City say they would
not have enough money to pay
their shares of the project costs.
"Interesting concept, said Lake
Oswego Mayor Bill Klammer. But
he said its tough enough to get
voters to support bonds for badly
needed school renovations.
Milwaukie Mayor Carolyn Tomei said her city will be staring at a major budget deficit
next year.
Still, Tomei said she finds the
concept of a passenger ferry service
"terribly exciting." Building a
docking facility along Milwaukie
Bay and a parking garage along the
eastside of McLoughlin Boulevard
would fit in perfectly with the city’s
plans to redevelop its riverfront
and downtown areas, said Tomei.
But the problem with trying to
help finance a start-up ferry service
is still money, or the city’s lack
thereof, she said.
In Oregon City, the problem not
only is money, but location. Mayor
John Williams said about the only
place he can think of where a boat
dock could be built for the passenger
ferries would be on the Clackamas
River near Clackamette Cove.
But he said it’s questionable
whether the U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers would ever allow dredging
in the river, at the mouth of the cover.
And the city also is faced with
its own problems trying to stabilize
the rivers rapidly eroding south
bank.
’Not beating drum,’ says Yates
Yates insists he’s "not out beating
the drum for this" project, that
he’s ordering a new, fast speed
dinner cruise boat from a Tampa,
Fla., boatbuilder that he plans to
operate between Portland and Astoria
anyway, and that maybe it
could serve as a prototype for passenger
ferries.
"I’m not promoting it - I’m out
getting information on my own,"
he said. "I’m doing this for a
private venture"
Yates’ new boat, which will measure
sure between 75 and 90 feet in
length, is designed to glide through
water at about 30 to 40 knots with-
out leaving a noticeable wake. It
will have seating for 149 passengers,
with an enclosed dining area under an
open-air deck, but would be low enough
to clear the Steel Bridge without
raising the span.
Yates said his company is investing
About $2 million in what he’s calling
a demonstration project. Along with the
initial three-hour Portland-to-Astoria
round-trip dinner cruise, Yates said he
plans to run the boat up to Bonneville
Dam and back. And he said the boat will
Be available for other dinner cruises or
Demonstration runs and, possibly, future
commuter service.
Among the things Yates includes in his cost
estimates for the ferry service: Purchasing
eight of the boats, which would run about
$1.6 million each; $3 million to buy the
three acres of land in each of the four
cities; $6 million to build 400-space
parking garages in Lake Oswego, Milwaukie and
Oregon City; $3 million for a maintenance yard; and
$1.5 million to build ferry docks in the four cities.
Yates adds another $10 million for planning and
$5 million for mitigation - the process of replacing
land taken for the project with land of equal size
and worth elsewhere.
One Metro Alternative
But by his own estimates all this
is still very preliminary. Neither
Metro nor Tri-Met has made any
Financial commitments or policy decisions on river transit, although Ross Roberts, Metro’s project
manager for the South Corridor Study
said rivet transit is one of about a
half-dozen alternatives Metro is
studying.
Roberts said there are a number
of challenging issues Yates’ plan
raises, such as building park-an-ride
lots or parking garages along
the Willamette River Greenway
and the impact of dock facilities on
fish habitat.
Roberts also wonders if there
really any federal transportation
dollars available for river transit
as the type Yates envisions. Passenger
ferries running up and
down a river on a regular basis are
not very common in this country,
Roberts said.
But Yates insists the time has
come to give commuter ferries serious
consideration. "Its viable
alternative."
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