Plan for Burnside-Couch couplet still kicking

Two studies revive idea to make streets one way

By Nick Budnick

The Portland Tribune, Aug 1, 2006, Updated Oct 30, 2009

David Plechl / The Portland Tribune

Some neighbors worry a couplet of one-way streets might make intersections along Northwest Couch Street less pedestrian-friendly.

A pair of new studies may have breathed life into a plan to turn Burnside and Couch streets into a couplet of one-way streets running through downtown.

In 2002 the City Council had approved the Burnside-Couch couplet, which would divert much of Burnside’s traffic onto Couch, only to decide to re-examine the idea earlier this year.

The new studies side with the idea’s supporters, saying the plan would lessen the barrier effect that Burnside has on downtown, as well as improve vehicle travel times and make for a more pedestrian-friendly environment.

The studies don’t discuss what is likely to be the biggest sticking point to the plan – the price tag, which has yet to be determined.

Even so, Chris Smith, a neighborhood activist and supporter of the idea, said that “after four years of having it go nowhere, I see a glimmer of sunshine now.”

The two studies were of traffic as well as urban design. The urban-design study, prepared by architect Lloyd Lindley, compared the proposal with six other alternatives, including leaving Burnside unchanged. Lindley ranked the Burnside-Couch couplet first in all five categories studied; for instance, in addition to making Burnside less of a barrier to pedestrians, it would add 176 parking spaces.

Meanwhile, a traffic analysis by the consultant DKS Associates found that the proposed couplet, by allowing synchronization of traffic lights as is done elsewhere in downtown, would subtract about five minutes from the average westbound trip between the Willamette River to Northwest 24th Avenue.

A well-connected group supports the Burnside-Couch couplet, including Michael Powell of Powell’s City of Books and parking magnate Greg Goodman.

Still, the idea faces potent opposition in the form of residents of the Henry condominium tower on Northwest Couch Street, who complain that Burnside’s gain will be their pain.

They say the proposal would change Couch from a thriving local pedestrian-oriented street into a major vehicle mover with five times more traffic.

Not only that, but Gerding/Edlen Development Co., owner of the Brewery Blocks, also is concerned about impacts to the street environment.

There also is the opposition of the planning bureau to overcome. On Nov. 8, planning Director Gil Kelley wrote the City Council a letter urging it to abandon the couplet idea and instead pursue pedestrian enhancements along Burnside, which he said would not only be cheaper but would preserve the Pearl District’s increasing vitality.

Kelley wrote that “because the implications of the proposal are so great, the budget so uncertain, the conditions in the area so rapidly changing and the public awareness of the project now growing that the proposal deserves reconsideration … at a minimum a ‘gut check’ is warranted before proceeding to detailed design and construction.”

With persuasive analyses as well as potent political forces on both sides of the issue, a key vote on the project is likely to be that of Commissioner Sam Adams, who oversees the Portland Office of Transportation and who would present a recommendation to the City Council. He already has shared the results of the studies with the developers and landowners along Burnside and Couch streets, and said that all but Gerding/Edlen supported the couplet.

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