Road work halted in downtown Portland in bid to lure shoppers

Published: Nov 20, 2008 at 5:24 PM PST
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This is a perss release courtesy of the Portland Office of Transportation

 
Downtown businesses and retailers today joined Mayor-elect Sam Adams and Downtown Marketing Initiative Executive Director Chris Finks at the downtown Macy's to announce the annual holiday break from roadway construction.
 
In recognition of the importance of the holiday season to the downtown retail core, beginning at 6 p.m. on Friday, November 21, and continuing through January 2, 2009, the Portland Office of Transportation is establishing a holiday break from roadway construction in downtown Portland.
 
Approximately 90% of current street and utility work in the public rights of downtown will be halted by the city during the holiday season. While a small amount of critical work will continue, limited to essential public works projects and transit mall construction outside the retail core, the majority of recent construction activity on downtown roadways will be completed or suspended through the end of the year. 
 
The holiday break from construction will free up an additional 300-400 on-street parking spaces that were previously reserved for construction activities. According to Mayor-elect Sam Adams, "No other center in the state of Oregon or Southwest Washington has as much parking as downtown Portland." In downtown Portland there are approximately 20,000 parking spaces available to the general public.  By comparison, Washington Square has about 6,000 spaces.

Downtown retailers count on this annual holiday break from construction to make downtown more accessible for shoppers and holiday revelers.  "We've had a holiday construction moratorium in place for the past few years, and I can tell you that it really makes a difference for downtown retailers," said Downtown Marketing Initiative Executive Director Chris Finks.   "The holidays are an extremely important time for our retail community and this construction moratorium goes along way to support them."

"We're excited to give shoppers a break from construction, making it even easier for Portlanders to get to and park downtown and experience everything we have to offer," said Adams.