Portland's Franklin Street redesign

[DanielPWM19]

A bit in the Phoenix about city staff recommending that city council once again take up this redesign as a transportation priority:

Portland set to revive plan to redesign Franklin Arterial | The Portland Phoenix

portlandphoenix.me

We're probably still a long way from any changes to Franklin, but I think it's an area where the right changes could drastically improve the city. Worth noting that even since the July 2015 report the east side of Franklin between Congress and Middle has basically been built out with 3 housing developments.

Glancing over the 2015 report reminds me of how great it would be to return Lincoln Park to its original footprint, but what kind of engineering would that require as the park edge now slopes off very quickly down to the street?

By the way I noticed another large section of fencing has been removed from the Congress Street side of the park for restoration, but at the rate they're going it's gonna take at least another ten years to restore the whole perimeter.

I wholeheartedly agree.

Redesigning Franklin into an Urban boulevard will reconnect the East End to the rest of downtown, remove the ugly scar left from misguided urban renewal, and free up land both sides for meaningful development. It doesn't have to be a tunnel of high-rises, but mixed developments. It would change the city drastically for the better. Restoring the park to its original footprint would also be amazing.

I'd love to see the Forest Avenue corridor reimagined as a well-designed boulevard too. It basically already is, but there's room for some developments without ruining the character.

The biggest hurdle is selling the redesign to the people. As quoted:

"Embedded in his [Markos Miller, who co-chaired the Public Advisory Committee dedicated to studying and redesigning Franklin Street from 2008 to 2015] concern is a long-held feeling that the Franklin Street redesign effort is a housing and economic development plan disguised as a transportation plan.” - This and the fact that the neighboring areas are mostly poor, it could be seen as a scourge.

 

[PlantArch]

I wholeheartedly agree.

Redesigning Franklin into an Urban boulevard will reconnect the East End to the rest of downtown, remove the ugly scar left from misguided urban renewal, and free up land both sides for meaningful development. It doesn't have to be a tunnel of high-rises, but mixed developments. It would change the city drastically for the better. Restoring the park to its original footprint would also be amazing.

I'd love to see the Forest Avenue corridor reimagined as a well-designed boulevard too. It basically already is, but there's room for some developments without ruining the character.

The biggest hurdle is selling the redesign to the people. As quoted:

"Embedded in his [Markos Miller, who co-chaired the Public Advisory Committee dedicated to studying and redesigning Franklin Street from 2008 to 2015] concern is a long-held feeling that the Franklin Street redesign effort is a housing and economic development plan disguised as a transportation plan.” - This and the fact that the neighboring areas are mostly poor, it could be seen as a scourge.

Unfortunately the Forest Ave corridor does not have the land resources to make it truly amenable to a full redesign as does Franklin. Franklin could truly be redesigned to make it worth the while to reclaim much of the land and turn it into an urban oasis. Besides I don't think Forest could withstand the assault of another snake lamp sculpture.

 

[GIL]

Unfortunately the Forest Ave corridor does not have the land resources to make it truly amenable to a full redesign as does Franklin. Franklin could truly be redesigned to make it worth the while to reclaim much of the land and turn it into an urban oasis. Besides I don't think Forest could withstand the assault of another snake lamp sculpture.

The section of Forest between the Hood / USM block and Park Avenue/ Park Street is a pedestrian disaster area — Could certainly benefit for from a "community design thinking" workshop. The blocks between USM / Hood and Woodford's Corner could be better utilized for housing and is a potential improved transit corridor even without a full re-build if paired with an up-zoning for higher building heights and lower parking minimums.

To complement, maybe make it easy for homeowners on the neighboring blocks to build accessory dwelling units as a transition-density zone.

 

[TC_zoid]

I believe that the best way to do this is to create a tunnel so that traffic can still flow easily from Commercial Street to 295. As it is now, it's an easy and fast way to go back and forth. The tunnel opening could be just after Whole Foods and near Luminato Condos on the other side (as the hills starts to rise). Yes, it will cost mucho dinero, but most great urban design does (just put the work in to find it). Look at what Boston did in creating the Rose Kennedy Greenway. Have you really walked around to experience that? It's probably the best example of American 21st Century era urban design of a green space connecting one part (waterfront to downtown buildings) to another. Manhattan's Highline is another great example, but then that was already a trestle train bridge, so the cost was substantially less. It's a truly stunning and fun way to see the city and travel down it. Portland needs to think of the *bigger picture*, and that bigger picture is that Portland is becoming a bigger and more prominent city. Otherwise, the easier compromise impedes and reduces lifestyle; only to surface again one day for another fix proposal (a la Cross Arena).

 

[DanielPWM19]

I believe that the best way to do this is to create a tunnel so that traffic can still flow easily from Commercial Street to 295. As it is now, it's an easy and fast way to go back and forth. The tunnel opening could be just after Whole Foods and near Luminato Condos on the other side (as the hills starts to rise). Yes, it will cost mucho dinero, but most great urban design does (just put the work in to find it). Look at what Boston did in creating the Rose Kennedy Greenway. Have you really walked around to experience that? It's probably the best example of American 21st Century era urban design of a green space connecting one part (waterfront to downtown buildings) to another. Manhattan's Highline is another great example, but then that was already a trestle train bridge, so the cost was substantially less. It's a truly stunning and fun way to see the city and travel down it. Portland needs to think of the *bigger picture*, and that bigger picture is that Portland is becoming a bigger and more prominent city. Otherwise, the easier compromise impedes and reduces lifestyle; only to surface again one day for another fix proposal (a la Cross Arena).

The irony is that they were supposed to build a tunnel and never did.

 

[Redfern]

They should make a monorail or something that goes from marginal way parking to commercial street and hopefully expand it to go down commercial and loop around.....need some sort of bigger picture transportation options! And this is definitely and housing play. Markos is right...but it should be. Housing and transportation should go hand in hand. ~ C

 

[PlantArch]

They should make a monorail or something that goes from marginal way parking to commercial street and hopefully expand it to go down commercial and loop around.....need some sort of bigger picture transportation options! And this is definitely and housing play. Markos is right...but it should be. Housing and transportation should go hand in hand. ~ C

Portland's myriad opportunities to see the bigger picture are quickly dwindling. They need to wake up and take all facets of urban design and planning seriously before it is no longer possible without having to throw stupid sums of cash at it.

 

[GIL]

I hope someone from the City is applying for this available grant money!
https://smartgrowthamerica.org/program/community-connectors-grants/

Let’s get the Franklin Street redesign underway sooner than later — and open up some of the newly configured street for more housing.