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Oregon Health and Science University will only get one of the two sky bridges it asked the Portland Design Commission to approve related to a two-building project on Southwest Bond Street. The requested second sky bridge will be replaced by a tunnel.

The sky bridge and tunnel will be part of a $340 million project that includes construction of the Center for Health and Healing South, which will be a 12-story, 360,000-square-foot outpatient clinic, and a 10-story, 264,000-square-foot mixed use building for primarily for patient housing.

The double-decker single sky bridge was unanimously recommended for approval by the Portland Design Commission last week, said Brian Newman, OHSU associate vice president of campus planning, development and real estate. The design of the bridge will go to the city engineer before moving to the City Council for final approval. ZGF Architects is the designer of the OSHU expansion project.

The sky bridge, which will stretch over Whitaker Street, will connect the third and fourth floors of the proposed clinic and the existing Center for Healing and Health North building, Newman said. The sky bridge mainly will be used to transfer surgery patients back and forth between operating and recovery rooms in both buildings.

鈥淚t will be the main connection for patients on gurneys, primarily a surgical connection,鈥� he said.

The tunnel will connect the Center for Health and Healing South building, which will be built on an existing underground parking garage, and the new patient housing building.

The tunnel will be used to move materials only. Patients will move between the housing building and CHH South via the street.

鈥淭hose patients are going to housing, and they’re ambulatory,鈥� Newman said.

The proposed Center for Health and Healing South will cover a full city block bounded by Southwest Whitaker and Curry streets and Moody and Bond avenues. The patient housing building will be built on an existing parking lot bounded by Whitaker and Curry streets and Bond Avenue and River Parkway. The patient housing building will have retail space and a conference center on the ground floor, one level of below-grade parking, and above-grade parking on the second through fifth floors.

Sky bridges have been generally frowned on by the city in the past because they discourage pedestrian traffic. However, OHSU made a strong case for an exception, according to Newman.

鈥淭he big news is that they (the Design Commission) unanimously supported the remaining sky bridge,鈥� he said. 鈥淭hat was the biggest hurdle.鈥�

Newman said that in the comments part of the Design Committee’s review, it was stated that the city 鈥渟till sets a very high bar for sky bridges.鈥�

City staffers in April told the Design Commission that requests to build sky bridges in Portland are rare and must get special City Council approval.

Kurt Krueger of the Portland Bureau of Transportation told the commission that city policies on sky bridges have not been updated in years, with the last report published in 1982.

Newman said that OHSU will make a formal land use application for the sky bridge with the city in the second week of September.

OHSU originally had planned to start building construction in May 2016. Now, that work could begin sooner, according to Newman.

鈥淣ow that we are doing the tunnel, construction can start earlier, in January of next year,鈥� he said, instead of May of 2016, as originally planned.

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