Frog Ferry Looking Ahead To A Bright Future

PORTLAND, Ore– Frog Ferry is waiting Federal Transportation Administration Funding. The put in for that request with the city of Portland.  Funding should be announced in the next couple of weeks.  The real focus now is on the funding, planning, and staging of the pilot project.

One vessel should be out on the water by the Spring of 2023 according to Susan Bladholm, Founder and President of Friends of Frog Ferry.  It will take commuters from the Cathedral Park dock at the base of the St. John’s Bridge down to the South Waterfront where the Old Newport Bay Restaurant was located.  OHSU employees could receive a lot of benefit from the ferry system, riding it to and from work.  For the pilot project 70 passengers can ride the ferry at one time.

The vision down is road is to have 7 ferries navigating the Willamette River. Some of them will be able to accommodate 100 passengers.  These are not big boats with cars.  These are smaller passenger ferries. It could take as little as 25 minutes to ride from Cathedral Park to downtown compared to an hour by car in rush hour traffic.

Frog Ferry has asked for $2.7 million . It will take $9.7million to operate  the ferries for 2 years.  States with ferry systems are receiving Federal dollars as part of renewed transportation efforts.