As plans move forward for an earthquake-ready replacement of Portland's Burnside Bridge, several Portland neighborhood associations and the Better Block PSU program are taking the opportunity to reimagine a segment of West Burnside street.
With bridge closure and construction anticipated to begin as early as 2026 and last for several years, the temporary period of reduced traffic on Burnside will offer a unique chance for the neighborhood to test out some designs and placemaking strategies aimed at making the area more people-friendly.
"Currently, West Burnside street acts as a barrier separating the northwest and southwest portions of the Central City from each other, and discouraging movement between them," said Xavier Stickler, chair of the Downtown Neighborhood Association's Land Use and Transportation Committee. He, along with Sean Sweat of the Pearl District Neighborhood Association and Mary-Rain O'Meara of the Old Town Community Association Board, applied to the Better Block PSU program to request the assistance of Portland State University students with connecting those neighborhoods and making Burnside more pedestrian friendly.
We can use the closure period as a test bed; a pilot for what we want the street to be in the future.
In the Spring term of this year, students in a Bicycle and Pedestrian Planning course began investigating the area, outlining possible design approaches and drafting a public engagement plan. As we head into the Fall term, students in an Active Transportation Studio course will build upon that work. Meanwhile, the neighborhood associations are in the process of reaching out to adjacent businesses to get their ideas and feedback as well.
"Grounded in this project is the recognition that we've already got some challenges in our neighborhood. We want more foot traffic and ground floor activation. We want there to be better connectivity between downtown and Old Town. Now we're going to have a major thoroughfare close for at least five years. So how can we be proactive about looking at opportunities for improvement and engagement during that time? That's why we've been really excited to engage with the students," O'Meara said.
WHAT HAS BEEN DONE SO FAR?
Students in the Spring 2024 course created a set of preliminary materials for the project:
The team members were Joshua Miller, a Masters of Urban and Regional Planning (MURP) student; Shane Morrison a Post-Baccalaureate student studying Community Development & Sustainable Urban Development; Ilan Gerould, an undergraduate studying Geography and Cartography; and Alex Gill, a dual graduate student in the MURP and PSU-OHSU Masters of Public Health programs.
At the start of the term, the team met with project champions Stickler, Sweat and O'Meara as well as Ryan Hashagen, one of the community volunteers leading Better Block PDX, who was able to introduce them to more community stakeholders.
"Our next step was to do some observations, so we did a few bicycle and pedestrian counts on the street in different locations. Basically starting at the park blocks and moving towards the bridge, we sat at three intersections along that segment just to see what kind of activity was going on there and what we would expect to change during the project when the bridge is down," Morrison said.
Zeroing in on two locations along Burnside—the Park Blocks and Third Avenue—the team outlined several possible design approaches.
The most ambitious option for the park blocks includes a shared bike and bus only lane in each direction, buffered by bollards from car traffic, with parklets, food carts, pedestrian-scale lighting and raised crosswalks. A second option also focuses on the park blocks, with relatively more easily implementable changes that would still improve safety and human connectivity.
For Third Avenue, the students proposed removing a right turn lane in front of Dante’s and turning it into a public parklet, as well as expanding the median and painting a street mural in the intersection.
A final option, which the students termed "Burnside Sunday Parkways," would include temporary placemaking installations to enhance Portland Sunday Parkways. In this scenario, local businesses and organizations could partner with the city to provide cultural programming, create educational opportunities, and prepare for increased business activity along with the increase in bike and pedestrian traffic.
Gill was excited to work on this project because they travel along that stretch of Burnside street on a daily basis. "That's where I do most of my drive to work. So I'm interested in improving it for obvious reasons. If you're making pedestrian friendly spaces, that's also helpful for drivers. Having physical barriers to slow cars down and tell them, this is not a space that's entirely just for you? I want that as a driver," Gill said.
WHAT'S NEXT?
There are three phases of the Better Block PSU project pathway.
Phase 1—Spring term 2024: In this phase, students Miller, Morrison, Gerould and Gill worked with the project champions to conduct activity and behavior monitoring in the area, collect data, and develop the community engagement plans and performance measures.
Phase 2—Fall term 2024: This fall, students in the Active Transportation Planning and Design Studio will develop design alternatives and cost estimates.
Phase 3—Winter and Spring term 2025: In the final phase, the project will move from the Urban Studies and Planning department to the Civil Engineering department. A student or students in civil engineering will use their capstone project to develop an engineering plan with designs and other materials that can help with the city permitting process.
Bridgeless Burnside is one of two Better Block PSU projects currently making its way along this pathway; the other is a redesign of South Sheridan Street on behalf of the International School of Portland.
Image from Google Streetview
Portland State University's Transportation Research and Education Center (TREC) is home to the U.S. DOT funded National Institute for Transportation and Communities (NITC), the Initiative for Bicycle and Pedestrian Innovation (IBPI), PORTAL, BikePed Portal and other transportation grants and programs. We produce impactful research and tools for transportation decision makers, expand the diversity and capacity of the workforce, and engage students and professionals through education and participation in research.