April 15, 2003
More on the Transit Mall
Having neglected to check today's Portland Tribune prior to my earlier item about the transformation of the transit mall, I missed their take on what must have been some sort of recent announcement, given that both local newspapers covered the matter on the same day.
"The mall's tired," said Fred Hansen, TriMet's general manager. "It's out-of-date and a bit worn. This is an opportunity to refurbish the mall and address the issues concerning retail."
The Portland Business Alliance endorsed the rail project and the mall overhaul as a way to reinvigorate downtown, especially the areas north of West Burnside Street. A recent study by the group found business occupancy rates lower and turnover higher on the transit mall than on neighboring Southwest Fourth Avenue or Broadway.
This is an aspect about which I would like to know more. When referring to the transit mall, I suspect most people think of the area south of West Burnside, forgetting that the mall extends northward as well. And there is clearly a stark difference between those two segments of the transit mall.
At the same time, however, one is left to wonder whether or not the transit mall north of Burnside would experience a reinvigoration as part of, or a by-product of, the envisioned Burnside Transportation & Urban Design Plan, thereby negating the need for any specific focus on radical changes to the transit mall north of Burnside.
Continuing on, we do find one difference between the Tribune coverage and that of The Oregonian, namely the matter of parking on the transit mall:
No one yet knows what the renovated mall would look like. In January, Mayor Vera Katz convened a task force of business, transit and government leaders that will ask architects to envision how the mall could accommodate bikes, pedestrians, buses, light rail and maybe even a lane for cars.
There are many unanswered questions. Will the sidewalks have to shrink? What happens to the public art? Will TriMet's buses and trains get along with each other when forced to live on the same street?
On-street parking apparently won't be included. In recent years, merchants on the mall have said the lack of street parking hurts business. But on-street parking hasn't been a part of the discussions, said Francesconi, who oversees Portland's Office of Transportation.
"That's probably not achievable given all the other modes we need," said Mike Salsgiver, lobbyist for the Portland Business Alliance. "It's still on a list to discuss."
And a little more from Francesconi:
Francesconi sees renovating the mall as a way to help all of downtown.
"We have crumbling bricks," he said. "It needs more nightlife. It needs more pedestrians. It needs more vitality. It needs more life. It needs a complete overhaul."
Curiously, however, I'm skeptical that putting light rail through the transit mall rather than something still lighter, such as another streetcar line, makes much sense. At this stage, I fail to see how the existing bus lines and any future light rail system could share the mall without interfering with pedestrian traffic. And one would think that if retail concerns are the driving force here that the ease of pedestrian traffic along the mall would be a rather central necessity.
A graphic included in the print edition but not online (note to the Trib: Please start including these accompanying graphics in the online edition) presents three possible plans, the captions for which read as follows:
The existing layout allows for two bus lanes, wide sidewalks and -- in most places -- a car lane.
One proposal provides for the MAX line on one side of the mall and a bus lane on the other, with no room for cars but wide sidewalks.
Another proposal allwos for a car lane on one side, a bus lane on the other and the MAX station on an island in the middle of the street. Sidewalks would be narrower.
If I'm motivated, I'll take a digital shot of these three graphics and include them in this item later today.
Comments (2)
Aaron on 16 Apr 2003
Why hasn't anyone considered a mix of the options presented in the Trib? It's completely unnecessary to have the buses stop every other block down the length of the entire mall. Have transfer points at places like Union Station, 6th & Main, PSU, etc., and then use the North-South Rail line to link them all together.
If it was just an alignment strictly from Union Station to PSU, light rail would be overkill... but this would also serve Southbound trains from Interstate Ave (and hopefully Vancouver) and Northbound trains from Clackamas County (and beyond). Light rail is the appropriate choice for that because it does long-distance traffic better and local traffic in the same manner that the streetcar can.
I'm a big rail fan, and I hope this goes through, but we have to make the transit mall truly mass transit and not noisy buses. Establish transfer points and use the light rail to link them -- like a trunk linking hubs...
The One True b!X on 16 Apr 2003
Part of my confusion is over the alleged concern that thr trees and bus shelters obstruct the views of businesses along the transit mall, so people can't tell what's there.
I guess I fail to see how the regular presence of large view-obstructing light rail addresses this issue.
Which is not to say that I object to light rail in and of itself. I just have htis nagging feeling that light rail along the transit mall ultimately will make that stretch of downtown seem rather overbearing.