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Last year, in response to direction from the Governor and requests from local project stakeholders, the Oregon Transportation Commission directed the Oregon Department of Transportation to retain a consultant team of local and national urban design, engineering, and environmental experts to conduct an independent assessment of the highway cover designs included in the I-5 Rose Quarter Improvement Project. The requests from Metro, Multnomah County, City of Portland, Portland Public Schools and Albina Vision Trust shaped the creation of the independent cover assessment process.
Area of potential impacts shown.
Green space and development within the area of potential impact, analyzed in the Environmental Assessment (EA).
City of Portland preliminary concept for open space and development within the area of potential impact.
Albina Vision proposal for open space and development within the area of potential impact.
The Independent Cover Assessment team is charged with engaging the community in a visioning and evaluation process to help identify alternative designs for the covers that will more closely align with the Black Historic Albina community’s vision and goals for the area. The goal is to create 2-3 alternative highway cover development scenarios that allow development opportunities that provide restorative justice for the past harm done to the Black Historic Albina community in the 1960s when the I-5 freeway was originally built. The I-5 freeway construction cut a pathway through the middle of the existing Black community, displacing hundreds of Black homes and businesses, and fragmenting the community.
In Work Session 2, the Independent Cover Assessment team presented a range of concept scenarios that showed how the cover design configurations could facilitate the delivery of the priorities identified by the Historic Albina community participants and other stakeholders in Work Session 1. There were key questions and a discussion about each of these concept scenarios to help the Independent Cover Assessment team refine its analyses in preparation for Work Session 3. This helps the Independent Cover Assessment Team understand the benefits and trade-offs in development of scenarios that are most important to the Black Historic Albina community in the restoration of this neighborhood.
The goal and theme for Work Session 2 are:
(Click images to enlarge. Images courtesy of ZGF Architects.)
Early in the process, it was recognized that a revitalized neighborhood, would be one of the most effective ways to achieve restorative justice as described in the I-5 Rose Quarter Improvement Project Values and Outcomes.
Based on the Record Review, Executive Steering Committee’s adopted Values and Outcomes, and Work Session 1 community priorities, there is alignment in achieving a compact, service-rich, mixed-use neighborhood, with a strong community identity that showcases economic diversity and mobility, and serves as a model of how to address climate change in the built environment.
All Work Session 1 participants were asked to provide feedback on questions about which type of neighborhood programs and facilities they thought were most important to support Community Wealth, Community Health and Community Cohesion for the Black Historic Albina community and restorative justice. This feedback provides information to help the Executive Steering Committee consider which alternative cover scenario best meets community needs.
The following types of spaces, places, and outcomes were identified by Work Session 1 stakeholders as the top programming priorities and/or governance actions would be most desirable to implement for a restored neighborhood in the Lower Albina/Rose Quarter area:
Community-owned small business with widened sidewalks, Avenue of Fashion, Detroit, MI. (Image courtesy of ZGF Architects.)
(Includes Governance action priorities)
Access to green and natural environments provide physical and mental health benefits. Mount Tabor Park, Portland, OR.(Image courtesy of Intisar Abioto.)
Columbia Heights Plaza in Washington DC Civic is planned and programed to celebrate and serve the historic neighborhood’s Black Community. (Image courtesy of ZGF Architects.)
The Independent Cover Assessment team’s evaluation of the Environmental Assessment highway cover design and alternative highway cover concepts focus on where there are opportunities to reduce the freeway interchange impacts on the neighborhood, restore the street grid, and move highway ramps to create larger, more flexible, and more valuable development parcels. The concept scenarios also consider where these new development parcels can be located to create a more cohesive neighborhood and best support the community uses identified as priorities in Work Session 1 by participants.
A 3d aerial image of the project area including building massing with programs in the Environmental Assessment (EA).
A plan image of the project area including development area, green space with circulation in the Environmental Assessment (EA).
Benefits | Challenges | Feasibility | Community Wealth | Community Health | Community Cohesion | Mobility |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
○ | ○ | ? | ○ | ○ | ◑ | ◑ |
Learn more about these ratings
Unknown: The project is required to comply with a number of City of Portland plans and policies through the City’s Design Review process, (for the Dixon Hancock Connection, development planning, coordination with AVT & their development partner, Edlen & Co., and civic open space design) which are unlikely to be approved without additional coordination and consensus-building.
A 3d aerial image of the project area including building massing with programs in concept 1, Flint/Broadway Boulevards.
A plan image of the project area including development area, public open space with circulation in concept 1, Flint/Broadway Boulevards.
Benefits | Challenges | Feasibility | Community Wealth | Community Health | Community Cohesion | Mobility |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
◑ | ○ | ? | ◑ | ○ | ◑ | ◑ |
Learn more about these ratings
Unknown: The project is required to comply with a number of City of Portland plans and policies through the City’s Design Review process, (for permitting bike and pedestrian access to Dixon via Flint and Hancock, development planning, coordination with AVT & their development partner, Edlen & Co., and civic open space design) which are unlikely to be approved without additional coordination and consensus-building.
A 3d aerial image of the project area including building massing with programs in concept 2, Vancouver as Mainstreet.
A plan image of the project area including development area, public open space with circulation in concept 2, Vancouver as Mainstreet.
Benefits | Challenges | Feasibility | Community Wealth | Community Health | Community Cohesion | Mobility |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
◑ | ○ | ? | ◑ | ◑ | ◑ | ◑ |
Learn more about these ratings
Unknown: The project is required to comply with a number of City of Portland plans and policies through the City’s Design Review process, (for permitting bike and pedestrian access to Dixon via Flint and Hancock, proposed buildings, coordination with AVT & their development partner, Edlen & Co., and permitting for moving the southbound off-ramp onto Flint, for example), which are unlikely to be approved without additional coordination and consensus-building.
A 3d aerial image of the project area including building massing with programs in concept 3, Flint as Mainstreet.
A plan image of the project area including development area, public open space with circulation in concept 3, Flint as Mainstreet.
Benefits | Challenges | Feasibility | Community Wealth | Community Health | Community Cohesion | Mobility |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
◑ | ◑ | ? | ◑ | ◑ | ◑ | ◑ |
Learn more about these ratings
Unknown: The project is required to comply with a number of City of Portland plans and policies through the City’s Design Review process, (for permitting bike and pedestrian access to Dixon via Flint and Hancock, permitting Vancouver to Flint realignment, development plans, permitting for access to properties west of Williams on Hancock, coordination with AVT & their development partner, Edlen & Co., and require coordination with Leftbank and TriMet at Wheeler and Flint for example), which are unlikely to be approved without additional coordination and consensus-building.
A 3d aerial image of the project area including building massing with programs in concept 4, Cultural Center on the Cover.
A plan image of the project area including development area, public open space with circulation in concept 4, Cultural Center on the Cover.
Benefits | Challenges | Feasibility | Community Wealth | Community Health | Community Cohesion | Mobility |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
● | ◑ | ? | ● | ● | ● | ● |
Learn more about these ratings
Unknown: The project is required to comply with a number of City of Portland plans and policies through the City’s Design Review process, (for permitting bike and pedestrian access to Dixon and Hancock, permitting for traffic from Vancouver to Flint, development plans, alterations to Crowne Plaza Hotel property, access and egress to events at the Moda Center, coordination with AVT & their development partner, Edlen & Co., and require coordination with Leftbank and TriMet at Wheeler and Flint for example), which are unlikely to be approved without additional coordination and consensus-building.
A 3d aerial image of the project area including building massing with programs in concept 5, Restore the Grid.
A plan image of the project area including development area, public open space with circulation in concept 5, Restore the Grid.
Benefits | Challenges | Feasibility | Community Wealth | Community Health | Community Cohesion | Mobility |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
● | ◑ | ? | ● | ● | ● | ● |
Learn more about these ratings
Unknown: The project is required to comply with a number of City of Portland plans and policies through the City’s Design Review process, (for permitting bike and pedestrian access to Dixon and Hancock, permitting for traffic from Vancouver to Flint, development plans, alterations to Crowne Plaza Hotel property, access and egress to events at the Moda Center, coordination with AVT and their development partner, Edlen & Co., and require coordination with Leftbank and TriMet at Wheeler and Flint for example), which are unlikely to be approved without additional coordination and consensus-building.
Scenario | Benefits | Challenges | Feasibility | Community Wealth | Community Health | Community Cohesion | Mobility |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Environmental Assessment Base Case (for comparison) | ○ | ○ | ? | ○ | ○ | ◑ | ◑ |
Concept 1 Flint/Broadway Boulevards | ◑ | ○ | ? | ◑ | ○ | ◑ | ◑ |
Concept 2 Vancouver as Mainstreet | ◑ | ○ | ? | ◑ | ◑ | ◑ | ◑ |
Concept 3 Flint as Mainstreet | ◑ | ◑ | ? | ◑ | ◑ | ◑ | ◑ |
Concept 4 Cultural Center on the Cover | ● | ◑ | ? | ● | ● | ● | ● |
Concept 5 Restore the Grid | ● | ◑ | ? | ● | ● | ● | ● |
Learn more about these ratings
Rank the five concept scenarios according to how well you think they meet community needs and serve the community priorities identified in Work Session 1.
When reviewing the differences between the cover concept scenarios, which elements do you think are most important to help provide restorative justice to the Black Historic Albina community? Which of the following features were most important in ranking your top choice(s) in the previous section?
Drag the handles to allocate points between scenario features. Give more points to the features that you think are more important. For the purposes of this exercise, you are limited to 66 points with a maximum of 15 points per feature.
Maximizes developable land on and around the covers available for community use | 0 |
Maximizes the intensity of development on the covers | 0 |
Creates opportunities for active street level activity on and around covers | 0 |
Reduces air and noise impacts for neighborhood on and around covers | 0 |
Simplifies circulation and safety for multimodal travel in the area | 0 |
Provides mixed use and community-oriented services in the area | 0 |
Improves traffic flow through the area | 0 |
Restores neighborhood street character north of Broadway | 0 |
Creates viable, useable open space on and/or near the covers | 0 |
Restores neighborhood street grid north of Broadway | 0 |
Minimizes project delays and costs by implementing similar cover design | 0 |
Value Spectrum
Providing viable developable land for community use and programming was one of the top community priorities identified in Work Session 1. The Independent Cover Assessment concept scenarios that maximize this goal could be used as the measuring stick to establish the “value” of the community benefits that are provided to the Black Historic Albina community to meet the Black Community’s restorative justice goal. Under this approach, how the total “value” of community benefits is delivered by the project to the Black Historic Albina community would vary depending on the which highway cover scenario is selected.
This page shows an illustration of how the five Independent Cover Assessment concept scenarios might vary in delivering total community benefits (“value”) using this approach. Scenarios falling on the left side of the community benefits value spectrum would deliver community benefits through a combination of more dedicated flexible funding and technical support for community redevelopment initiatives and less physical assets/land. Scenarios falling on the right side of the spectrum would deliver community benefits through a combination of more physical assets/land and less dedicated flexible funding and technical support for community redevelopment initiatives.
In your opinion, which of the following benefits would provide the greatest value and create the best potential for delivering restorative justice to the Black Historic Albina community?
(Check up to 4.)The highway covers can improve existing corridors and make new connections that revitalize this area of the City.
Opportunity areas connected by highway covers if located the near Rose Quarter.
Opportunity areas along Williams and Vancouver that could be connected by highway covers.
Opportunity areas improved or connected by highway covers near Tubman Middle School.
For the final Work Session in June, the Independent Cover Assessment team will take up to three alternative cover design concepts and further analyze and refine them based on the feedback received from participants in Work Session 2. One of these concepts must be consistent with the Environmental Assessment (EA) Base Case design parameters. Concept 1 meets this requirement, so it will be included as one of the final scenarios further studied for Work Session 3.
In addition to Concept 1, and the top scenario that emerges from Work Session 2, the Independent Cover Assessment team will be working with the Executive Steering Committee to determine whether a third scenario gets carried forward. A summary of the feedback gathered in Work Session 2 will be used to inform this decision.
Building on the feedback received in Work Sessions 1 and 2, the team will develop and provide more detailed technical cost and constructability analysis on these 2-3 options and develop governance and financing strategies for how each scenario can be implemented. The goal/theme for Work Session 3 is to review, analyze and refine these 2-3 design scenarios to form a basis for the Executive Steering Committee to make a recommendation to the Oregon Transporation Commission in July 2021.
The following questions are optional and help the ICA public involvement team to continually aim for balanced and diverse involvement in our public processes.
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