Apartment pushers want another stop light on NE Broadway
It's unavoidable: The new human warehouses being proposed for the southwest corner of NE 33rd and Broadway in Portland are going to make a frustrating traffic situation even worse. And about the only solution the developer types can offer is a new traffic light just a block west of the existing signal at 33rd, so that the tenants and Subway sandwich customers can turn left when they're coming in from the east on Broadway and off the freeway.
It doesn't sound like such a hot idea:
When the site, a reclaimed brownfield, was rezoned in 2003, a traffic study found a light at the 32nd property line wouldn't work because it was too close to the light at 33rd, said Lauren Jones, a Capstone representative....Murray Koodish, president of the N.E. Broadway Business Association, expressed a concern that even with a new light, cars turning left into the site's other entrance could jam up a lane of west-bound traffic....
But without the turn, there's literally no other way in off westbound Broadway without turning little residential Weidler Street across from the nearby Fred Meyer store into a heavily used through street.
The proposed building site is an eyesore, and has been for many years, but what's being planned to fill it in doesn't sound particularly appealing:
Neighbors said the design reminded them of industrial-looking condos in the Pearl District.
At least they say they'll have parking:
Designers have planned 271 parking spaces for the apartments and more for the shops.
Given the way the side streets have been blocked off for the Fred Meyer, and the cliff dropping off to the MAX tracks in the back of the property, off-street's parking's a physical necessity. There's simply not much adjacent neighborhood left to wreck.
More cars mean more hassle for the many cyclists who navigate over the freeway at 28th, just a few blocks west. Despite their numbers, folks on bikes are not given a dedicated lane near already busy Broadway. It gets a little dicey, and the more motorized traffic in the vicinity, the dicier the biking will become. So far we haven't seen any estimate of how many new cars the development would bring to the area.
| Posted at 8:49 AM | Permalink |
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Comments (12)
More lights shuts down driving.
More cyclists on the road shuts down driving.
Starting to get the picture yet, everyone?
Pick the walled-in, segregated neighborhood you want to live in now while you still can before it's too late.
Posted by Mr. Grumpy | August 20, 2012 9:02 AM
God forbid the site be developed for employment or (gasp!) light industrial uses. No, just like every other buildable lot in town, the only thing that "pencils out" is condos/apartments. It's the Portland Way.
I hope the buildings' central air intakes have good scrubbers, since fume-spewing I84 and an active railroad line are right next to the site.
Posted by Eric | August 20, 2012 9:28 AM
What type of housing is this?
Anything to do with workforce housing or subsidies of any kind, tax abatement?
I have brought this subject up before, those tracks right there - would the proposed coal trains be running by?
Posted by clinamen | August 20, 2012 9:33 AM
Its right on the MAX line - how could they pass up an opportunity to duplicate that fabulously, famously, successful, perfectly planned, world renowned,, showcase: "the Round"!
Then they would not have to build ANY parking or stop lights.
With such good transit service, so close in and with the synergy from the Metro’s newly planned direct bike path to downtown, no one would have any use for a car!
A perfect opportunity to show how wonderful life can be without a car - heck, they don’t even need a road in or driveway with all those bike, ped & rail connections.
Just ask any deluded Portland planner.
Thanks
JK
Posted by jim karlock | August 20, 2012 12:11 PM
Hi Jack:
I sat through earlier failed design planning workshops and one idea for the project was to put a Max stop just to the SW of the site, maybe South of Freddys. Any word from Metro or the current developers about this? It would help to greatly reduce driver commuter traffic to downtown.
VTY,
Old Curmudgeon
Posted by Old Curmudgeon | August 20, 2012 12:19 PM
Now I know this may sound outrageous, but what if Portland would get behind single family homes being built on 50 x 100 lots, with a garage, in the area?
Posted by Mark | August 20, 2012 12:31 PM
Not allowed. Never again. Heresy. We must have bunkers! There's no other way to save Dundee.
Posted by Jack Bog | August 20, 2012 4:01 PM
The disconnects here are mind boggling. On the one hand there is more emphasis in city literature on growing food locally and gardens and on the other hand those very lots for doing just that are being filled with developments.
The economy is up in the air, who knows what might happen after the election. Seems to me that during depressed times, the more people having yards and gardens to grow food the better. Instead we have more and more people into these little units without garden space, doesn't seem very sustainable to me. . . I don't think the community gardens are adequate to take care of the many people who would need them.
Posted by clinamen | August 20, 2012 4:55 PM
Maybe the land could be used to attract a manufacturer of Heavy Equipment, or a petrochemical distributor? Wouldn't it be great for such a business to locate there, so close to the Mainline of the Union Pacific?
Posted by Mark | August 20, 2012 5:06 PM
Not sure why anyone would be thrilled with a parking space to apartment ratio of about 1:1.3. Compared to zero, I suppose that counts as great, but then standards have slipped along with livibility. No wonder Lake Oswego and other towns want to stay away from Portland-style growth.
Just wondering, are young people still flocking to Portland? I would have thought the bloom was off the rose by now and the next hot thing would have come along - like careers, a future, a life? Is there some dystopia that is causing young people to think they don't have much of a future so they just don't engage in the system?
Posted by Nolo | August 20, 2012 10:54 PM
Wasn't there an article recently about lack of land for businesses to locate here?
Posted by clinamen | August 20, 2012 10:54 PM
"More cars mean more hassle for the many cyclists who navigate over the freeway at 28th, just a few blocks west. Despite their numbers, folks on bikes are not given a dedicated lane near already busy Broadway. It gets a little dicey, and the more motorized traffic in the vicinity, the dicier the biking will become. So far we haven't seen any estimate of how many new cars the development would bring to the area."
Aw, Jack, are you caring about the transit infrastructure for us cyclists now?
Shucks. You're a sweetheart.
Posted by Patrick C. | August 21, 2012 1:58 PM