Downtown Portland

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Downtown
Neighborhood
Downtown (including KOIN Center),viewed from the Portland Aerial Tram
Downtown (including KOIN Center),
viewed from the Portland Aerial Tram
Coordinates: Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
Country United States
State Oregon
City Portland
Government
 • Association Downtown Neighborhood Association
Area
 • Total 1.00 sq mi (2.58 km2)
Population (2000)[1]
 • Total 9,965
 • Density 10,000/sq mi (3,862/km2)
Housing[1]
 • No. of households 6384
 • Occupancy rate 89% occupied
 • % households renting 92% renting
 • Avg. household size 1.56 persons

Downtown Portland, the city center of Portland, Oregon, United States, is located on the west bank of the Willamette River. It is in the northeastern corner of the southwest section of the city and where most of the city's high-rise buildings are found.

The downtown area is usually considered[citation needed] to extend west from the Willamette to Interstate 405, and south from Union Station to just south of the Portland State University campus (also bounded by I-405). (The northeastern portion of this area is also part of the Old Town Chinatown neighborhood.) High-density business and residential districts near downtown include the Lloyd District, across the river from the northern part of downtown, and the South Waterfront area, currently in development just south of downtown in the South Portland neighborhood. The city recognizes a formal neighborhood called Portland Downtown, bounded by Burnside St., I-405, and the river, except for a few blocks that are part of Old Town Chinatown.[2]

Portland's downtown features narrow streets—64 feet (20 m) wide—and square, compact blocks 200 feet (61 m) on a side,[3] to create more corner lots that were expected to be more valuable. The small blocks also made downtown Portland pleasant to walk through. The 264-foot (80 m) long combined blocks divide one mile (1.6 km) of road into exactly 20 separate blocks.

By comparison, Seattle's blocks are 240 by 320 feet (73 m × 98 m), and Manhattan's east-west streets are divided into blocks that are from 600–800 feet (183–244 m) long.[citation needed]

Urban development

Downtown Portland in 1973
Downtown Portland in 2007

By the early 1970s, parts of Portland's central city had been in decay for some time. New suburban shopping malls in the neighboring cities of Beaverton, Tigard, and Gresham competed with downtown for people and money. Unlike many downtown revitalization efforts around the United States at this time, Portland's plan did not call for widespread demolition and reconstruction. However, the creation of a downtown transit mall in 1977, a new waterfront park in 1978 (later named after Governor Tom McCall) in place of a freeway, the creation of the Pioneer Courthouse Square in 1984, the opening of the Portland–Gresham light rail line in 1986, and the opening of Pioneer Place mall in 1990 successfully drew or retained businesses and lured customers. Downtown, which had been a virtual ghost town after regular business hours,[citation needed] became more of an all-hours shopping, dining, and business venue. During the two decades starting in 1990, downtown Portland dominated city development, with 500,000 square feet (46,000 m2) more development there than on the east side (Lloyd District, Central Eastside Industrial District, and Lower Albina).[5]

Downtown development has not been without criticism. Some charge that the transit mall and increased pedestrian traffic has attracted transient and homeless persons from across the city, and aggressive panhandling has increased, despite periodic police crackdowns.[citation needed] Downtown also has numerous surface parking lots,[citation needed] which contradict the city's efforts to promote higher density and create the storefronts needed for a vibrant downtown. Some changes are being made slowly, such as the creation of the Smart Park garage system,[citation needed] and conversion of a surface-level parking lot into a park with underground parking at Park Block 5 between the Fox Tower and Park Avenue West Tower.

Bridges

Portland is sometimes known as "Bridgetown,"[6] due to the number of bridges that cross its two rivers. There are nine bridges entering downtown and immediately adjacent areas. The bridges are (north to south):[7]

Outside the downtown area there are two other road bridges within Portland limits that cross the Willamette River: St. Johns Bridge (to the north) and Sellwood Bridge (to the south).

Transportation

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Main article: Transportation in Portland, Oregon

Most streets in downtown Portland are one-way. Naito Parkway (two-way, formerly known as Front Avenue) is the farthest east, while most of the high-rises end by I-405 to the west. Interstate 5 runs on the opposite bank of the river, crossing over on the Marquam Bridge. U.S. Route 26 connects downtown Portland to the Oregon Coast and the Cascade Range.

Downtown is also served by several forms of public transportation. TriMet, the regional mass transit agency, operates MAX light rail on two alignments in downtown, one running east/west on Yamhill and Morrison streets and north/south on 1st Avenue, the other running north/south on 5th and 6th avenues. On the latter two streets, an extensive transit mall—known as the Portland Mall—limits private vehicles and provides connections between more than fifty bus lines, MAX light rail, and the Portland Streetcar.

The southern part of downtown and the West End are also served by the Portland Streetcar system, operating from South Waterfront north into the Pearl and Northwest Portland districts. The system currently has two routes, measuring 7.2 miles (11.6 km) end to end, and connects in South Waterfront with the Tram (aerial cableway) to Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU).

Starting in 1975 and continuing for almost four decades, all transit service in downtown was free, as downtown was entirely within TriMet's Fareless Square, which also covered a portion of the nearby Lloyd District after 2001. However, in 2010, free rides became limited to MAX and streetcar service – no longer covering bus service – and the zone renamed the "Free Rail Zone",[8] and in September 2012 the fareless zone was discontinued entirely, because of a $12 million shortfall in TriMet's annual budget.[9]

Street Sign Toppers in Downtown
Portland State University District in the south part of Downtown
Cultural District along the South Park Blocks in Downtown
Yamhill Historic District in Downtown

Sites of interest

Buildings

The U.S. Bancorp Tower, with Mount Hood in the background

Several high-rise buildings are located in downtown Portland.[10] The five tallest are:

Adjacent districts

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Demographics (2000)
  2. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  6. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  8. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  9. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  10. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

External links

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