Construction of a new Burnside Bridge may force the closure of the Vera Katz Eastbank Esplanade for up to 30 months. With the esplanade potentially sidelined for years, some advocates want to reconsider what the Portland public path can be.

Willie Levenson of the Human Access Project is pushing for a remake of the esplanade that would provide “toes in the water” access to the Willamette River. That would be accomplished with terraced steps.

“Terraced seating is a concept that is found regionally, nationally and internationally,” Levenson stated in written comments submitted to Multnomah County. “It is a very elegant way to acknowledge the highs and lows of a river and flood control seasonally, while providing passive recreational opportunities. As the river rises, stairs will be underwater. As the river lowers, more stairs are revealed. This serves as an alternative to riprap armoring and offers better functionality.”

Levenson is presenting the concept as appropriate mitigation for the closure of the esplanade. He’s had several discussions with county and city officials, and submitted his ideas, complete with an architectural rendering and images of precedents from around the world, as a public comment for the Burnside Bridge project’s draft environmental impact statement.

Levenson said it’s too early to discuss his ideas for changes to the esplanade, and declined to discuss the proposal in detail.

“This is something we are doing for fun,” he said. “We know it’s a long shot, but you just never know. We are looking for the right engineer and surveyor to join our volunteer team.”

But in addition to the public comments he submitted to Multnomah County, Levenson has shopped his proposal widely to local government officials and other stakeholders such as the Central Eastside Industrial Council.

“We ran this by (Bureau of Environmental Services staffers); they love the plan,” Levenson said during a CEIC meeting in March. “(Parks & Recreation) loves the plan. We are getting nothing but support for this idea.”

The idea to enhance the 1.5-mile pathway comes as it is being squeezed by major road and bridge projects. The esplanade, a key north-south connection for bicycle commuters and recreational users, sits among key transportation infrastructure, hemmed in by Interstate 5, bridges to the north and south and the river itself.

The county’s drive to build a new Burnside Bridge is expected to lead to construction beginning in 2025. The esplanade, which passes directly underneath the bridge, could close and reopen throughout the construction timeline.

“It could be several different periods,” said Mike Pullen, spokesman for Multnomah County. “We know that’s way too long for people who use the esplanade, so we’re trying to reduce that as much as we can, but we also need to keep workers safe and the public safe.”

The esplanade will need to be closed when the existing span is removed, and again at certain points when the new bridge is installed, Pullen said.

Completed in 2001, the Vera Katz Eastbank Esplanade is used for 1,500 bike trips and 1,550 pedestrian trips daily, according to the county. Those numbers are expected to rise to 2,650 for bikes and 2,700 for pedestrians by 2045.

In the two decades since, the pathway has become a much-loved part of Portland’s transportation infrastructure. It is used by bicyclist and pedestrian commuters as well as downtown workers looking for exercise. On Monday, the path was filled with walkers, runners, bicyclists, people on scooters and one worker painting over graffiti.

David Stein, a Portland bicycle advocate, said he’s urged county officials to minimize closures and provide more direct detours.

“The esplanade represents a really high-quality, low-stress bikeway and walkway, and it’s being replaced by a significantly more circuitous route that’s higher stress,” said Stein, who serves as chairman of the Transportation Bureau’s Bicycle Advisory Committee but was speaking as an individual.

Stein said he was disappointed with the planned disruptions to the esplanade, particularly compared to the minimal closures expected for the adjacent interstate.

“It really puts into contrast the ease of which it’s possible to deprioritize active modes of transportation,” he said.

The esplanade is owned by the city of Portland and overseen by Portland Parks & Recreation, with the Bureau of Transportation and other city bureaus playing significant roles.

It’s unclear at this point if county and city officials will buy in to Levenson’s concept. He did not advance a cost estimate in his public comments.

“It’s way beyond what we were planning in terms of scale, but it’s an interesting concept,” Pullen said of Levenson’s proposal.

Portland Parks & Recreation isn’t planning to remake the esplanade at this time, spokesman Mark Ross stated in an email.

“Portland Parks & Recreation doesn’t have any pending plans for major work along the esplanade,” he stated. “We are working closely with Multnomah County as they plan for Burnside Bridge work and ODOT … on their respective plans in the area. We appreciate the Human Access Project’s continued advocacy.”

Parks & Recreation has a degree of leverage to demand mitigation for any impacts to the esplanade. A provision in the federal Department of Transportation Act requires construction to avoid impacts to parks, and to mitigate any impacts that cannot be avoided. In the case of the recent Sellwood Bridge project, for example, Multnomah County mitigated impacts by paying for new trees to be planted at the bridge’s west end.

It’s unclear what mitigation will be required for the Burnside Bridge project.

“Before we construct the new bridge, we will work out these details with Portland Parks & Recreation,” Pullen said.

The county is also focused on improving connections between the proposed Burnside Bridge replacement and the esplanade. For now, there’s one staircase – an access point that is regarded as inadequate for disabled persons and nonmotorized vehicles.

“Any connection that is built between a new bridge and the esplanade will need support from the city in terms of approval,” Pullen said. “Who’s going to pay for it isn’t really known. The city is a huge player.”

The esplanade has survived other challenges. Last year, local outcry fended off a roadway widening proposed by the Oregon Department of Transportation that would have resulted in a larger I-5 looming over the esplanade.

The widening plan sparked protests by the city of Portland and citizens, who flooded ODOT with critical comments. In response, ODOT redesigned the project last year to eliminate construction in the Willamette River and the highway encroachment over the esplanade. Instead, ODOT plans to re-stripe I-5 in both directions, shift the highway median to the east and narrow the existing shoulders, according to the agency’s revised environmental assessment for the project.

ODOT considers the problem solved.

“We do not anticipate any impacts to the esplanade,” ODOT spokeswoman April de Leon-Galloway stated in an email.

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The Central Eastside Industrial Council has commissioned a parking study as an increase of jobs in the urban district has not come with additions of spaces for motor vehicles.

The study is “to determine exactly how much parking we have and how much parking we need, and whether we’re using the parking that we have efficiently,” said Brad Malsin, the council’s president and a Beam Development principal.

Portland’s zoning, in particular the Central City 2035 plan, limits residential and office uses in the Central Eastside in an attempt to protect the district as an industrial sanctuary. As multifamily and office development creates pressure on industrial space across the city, the Central Eastside is meant to remain a place where industrial businesses can continue to flourish.

That has become a challenge.

“I think it needs to be done,” Jim Kennison, director of bakery operations at Franz Bakery, said of the parking study. “It is the industrial district, and the industry is getting kind of crowded and pushed out.”

Pressures have grown. In June 2018, Autodesk moved from Lake Oswego to the Towne Storage building, a renovated 100,000-square-foot warehouse south of the Burnside Bridge that was originally built in 1916 and has no parking. Media reports at the time said Autodesk had 200 employees at the location, with room to scale up to 500.

The construction software firm declined a recent interview request, and did not respond to an email asking how many employees work at the Towne Storage building.

Whereas the parking situation is a problem for many employers, it’s an opportunity for some developers. Harsch Investment Properties‘ 7 SE Stark building, nearly completed, has six floors of parking with 265 stalls.

“It’s a critical need,” said Jordan Schnitzer, president of Harsch Investment Properties. “Many tenants realize that while lots of people walk and bike and use Uber, there’s a lot of people that still drive their cars and a lot of people that want to visit businesses.”

Some of 7 SE Stark’s parking will be available to other users, Schnitzer said.

“We’re first going to take care of our tenants, and then any excess parking, we’ll take care of Olympic Mills and the public,” he said.

The Olympic Mills Commerce Center, a commercial building near 7 SE Stark, has tenants including Olympia Provisions and Fish Marketing.

Gerding Edlen’s 5 MLK, another building under construction in the area and expected to be delivered early next year, has three floors of underground parking. A spokesperson for the developer did not respond to a message seeking comment. An executive with Apex Real Estate Partners, the leasing agent for the project, also did not respond to requests for comment.

District Office, a six-story building from Beam Development and Urban Development + Partners at 525 S.E. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., will have one floor of underground parking.

The growth affects many longtime industrial businesses, which rely on parking and easy access for trucks to transport their products. Franz Bakery has operated in the neighborhood since 1906, and is in a relatively good position with three parking lots for its approximately 500 employees in the district. Few employees use public transit, Kennison said, because of schedule challenges.

“Our problem here is we work pretty much 24/7,” he said. “Bus service and light rail is not great on holidays or weekends.”

TriMet spokeswoman Tia York stated via email that the Central Eastside “enjoys some of the best supply of transit in the region.” Next spring, bus line 20 will be upgraded to frequent service – every 15 minutes – joining six frequent service lines currently operating in the area. TriMet is also working with the Portland Bureau of Transportation to accelerate bus service to make riding transit more attractive, York stated.

The Central Eastside Industrial Council also operates the Water Avenue Shuttle, which runs two shuttle buses during peak commuting hours from the Dairy Building on Southeast Eighth Avenue to the Oregon Convention Center.

Kennison said some small businesses have moved out of the district. That’s hardly an option for a company the size of Franz, he said.

“We’re a big company,” he said. “It’s going to be really hard for someone like us to move – I’m not saying that’s happening.

“Smaller businesses that can be more mobile, they don’t want to hassle with the parking,” he added.

The Lloyd area, just north of the Central Eastside, has its own parking challenges. Go Lloyd, a business group, conducts an annual parking survey of more than 13,000 on-street and off-street parking spaces. In 2018, the survey found usage rates were 10 percent higher than during the previous year.

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