Couch Street will become a congested thoroughfare if the Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT) and a lobby group called “Friends of Burnside/Couch, Inc.” succeed in creating the West Burnside Couch Couplet, to be partially funded by a Local Improvement District (LID) tax.
The West Burnside Couch Couplet would make Couch a one-way street and add at least five times more traffic to Couch1 by rerouting all of Burnside’s westbound traffic (including trucks, buses and emergency vehicles) onto Couch. Burnside would become a one-way east and gain 170 parking spaces, yet none of the sidewalks would be widened for pedestrians and there are no accommodations for bikes on Couch or Burnside (except for a short bike lane from 4th to the Burnside Bridge). And there is no streetcar. A possible Phase II with a streetcar, if financially feasible, is projected to be 10 years in the future.
Of seven plans submitted for improving Burnside, Portland’s Planning Commission ranked the couplet option fourth in desirability, citing three better plans without couplets, all with left-turn lanes plus other amenities. 2
The Oregonian Editorial Board wrote “it’s troubling that bureaus within the city disagree about the couplet project. While the transportation bureau is raring to go, the planning bureau has raised a number of concerns. On balance, we think the city’s planners are right. Moving forward with the Burnside-Couch couplet would close off less radical and less expensive solutions to what ails Burnside.” 3
The ambiance of Couch Street, “a highly pedestrian-friendly street where human activity predominates over vehicular circulation,” 4 where “richness in street life is aided by not having the burden of pushing through high volumes of through traffic,” 4 will be destroyed if we allow a couplet to fill it with screeching bus brakes, sirens of emergency vehicles, and five times the exhaust fumes.
If PBOT and “Friends” get 51% of the landowners (most are big developers) along NW Couch and Burnside to agree to the LID, the West Burnside Couch Couplet will go before City Council for discussion and an ultimate vote.
This couplet was first conceived in 1966 and is a giant step backwards. It caters to cars, contradicting Portland’s commitment to sustainability and pedestrian friendly neighborhoods.
Making Couch Street a thoroughfare via the couplet plan would destroy the current pedestrian environment and contradicts the values and objectives of the Planning and Sustainability Bureau’s “Portland Plan”.
NW Couch Street should remain the pedestrian-friendly mix of retail and residential, a model of sustainability admired and studied by cities throughout the world.
Voice your opposition to the West Burnside Couch Couplet by signing the petition and emailing city officials.
Thank you!
The Better Burnside Alliance
References
1. Kittleson & Associates: Brewery Blocks Transportation Study Update of Burnside-Couch Couplet (West Central Segment) – Transportation Impact Assessment
2. Burnside/Couch Alternatives: Urban Design Analysis and Evaluation, Bureau of Planning
3. Oregonian Editorial: Finding Turn Lanes on Burnside, 2/13/07
4. Memorandum excerpt – Assessment of Burnside Couch Couplet Proposal by Gil Kelley, former Planning Director
