- it’s poorly designed
- it’s for cars, not people or bikes
- it will put 5X more traffic on Couch street (15,000-19,000 vehicles per day), including buses, trucks and emergency vehicles
- it will ruin the retail/pedestrian friendly nature of Couch
- there is no streetcar in Phase I. Phase II with the streetcar, if even feasible with the new economy, is 10 years off into the future
- there will be no bike lanes on Couch and only a very short bike lane (from 4th to the Burnside Bridge) on Burnside
- it adds 170 new parking spaces on lower Burnside, but no sidewalks are widened for pedestrians
- it contradicts Portland’s commitment to sustainability and pedestrian friendly neighborhoods
- it’s not the best use of taxpayer dollars when there are so many other crucial needs and so few resources
Friends of Burnside/Couch and PBOT have proposed a $3 million Local Improvement District (LID), a TAX that landowners will likely pass on to their tenants in this shaky economy to help fund the $18 million ‘reduced scope’ West Burnside Couch Couplet.
Their objective is to get 51% of land owners along the route of the proposed couplet to sign an affidavit supporting an LID for the couplet. If they succeed, then by law, City Council will have to put it on their agenda. At that time, City Council may vote to authorize to proceed with “Final Engineering.” The LID is the final piece of the funding necessary to spend your money on an ill conceived downtown project.
We need your help in stopping the LID. Send a strong message to our City Council, PBOT and other neighborhood officials to tell them that there are better alternatives to improving what ails Burnside.
Proponents say that a couplet is the only way to allow for left turns and safe pedestrian crossings on Burnside. But PBOT has already developed a backup plan that enhances Burnside by adding new signalized crossings and left turns without making a couplet. This plan is called the West Burnside Existing Enhanced Plan (WBEEP). According to their findings:
“…implementation of new signals do allow for additional crossing locations for pedestrians, helping to connect neighborhoods north and south of W Burnside, and some locations do allow for left turning opportunities without significant impact to the overall intersection operations. Adjustments can be made to the signal timing to allow for the best progression available and implementation of a protected left turn to enhance connectivity.”
We believe that additional effort is necessary to explore and develop the best and most reasonable alternative plan possible.
We invite you to explore our website to learn more about this issue:
