Today’s Portland Tribune discusses a plan to bury I-5 (and parts of 405) in inner Eastside Portland and create more than 40 acres of useable land, a project which would transform a large part of the city.
The potential cost was projected at $3 to $5.8 billion in 2003, which may be low. Project leaders also suggest it might be 25 years before ground is broken. But sketches that include transforming the Marquam Bridge into a park overlooking downtown are compelling (imagine being able to bike to the top of the Marquam every day, not just during Bridge Pedal…)
Visit the website of Riverfront for People to learn more about the “Eastbank Initiative.”
While monies aren’t transferrable (the project would use a lot of federal transportation funds) I have a question for the visionaries: if you had $5 billion to transform the city, what would you do?
If I had $5 billion to transform the city, I’d build homes to give to the homeless. This idea of revitalizing the Eastbank is an idea to bring beauty to Portland that is only skin deep.
Portland is a city that is hurting internally and has a local government that all but discourages faith based organizations when it comes to helping the poor and the homeless.
If government funding combined with faith based funding and manpower was applied to healing the city internally Portland truly would be a beautiful city.