First city stimulus project heads to council

Long-planned East Burnside and Couch Street couplet project would cost $22 million

By Jim Redden

The Portland Tribune, Mar 16, 2009, Updated Oct 30, 2009 (6 Reader comments)

The City Council is scheduled to consider the first of its local economic stimulus projects on Wednesday.

The project is the construction phase of the East Burnside and Couch Street couplet. It will cost approximately $22 million to create two one-way streets out of portions of Burnside and Couch between Northeast Third and 14th avenues.

The goal is to reduce congestion and encourage redevelopment, including the dormant Burnside Bridgehead project at the east end of the Burnside Bridge.

The work is also intended be coordinated with the construction of the eastside loop of the Portland Streetcar line.

“This is the first major stimulus project to come before the council,” said Mayor Sam Adams, who has championed the project in recent years as the elected head of the Bureau of Transportation. “Other major projects should begin coming to council soon.”

The project was one of 84 infrastructure projects included in the Portland Job Creation and Business Stimulus Package unveiled by the council on Jan. 13. It was intended to create nearly 5,000 jobs within a year at a cost of $503 million.

All of the projects had previously been included in five-year capital construction budgets of such large city agencies as the transportation bureau, Bureau of Water and Bureau of Environmental Services. The council decided to begin the projects sooner — all within a year — to create jobs in the worsening economy.

“The good jobs these projects provide will serve the immediate needs of our economy and generations of Portlanders,” Commissioner Randy Leonard said at the time.

A number of small projects in the package that did not require council approval have already begun, including minor street paving ones.

The East Burnside and Couch Street couplet project is the first of many that are large and complicated enough to require council approval, however.

Realigning two major streets

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