Bike ramp too much for former city planner
Ernie Munch is not enamored with this version of plans for the Broadway Corridor
Since 2020, city agencies and neighborhood representatives have progressed through iterations of plans for the Broadway Corridor, which includes the 12-block former U.S. Post Office site. The latest version involves an elaborate spiral of concrete bike lanes and pedestrian walkways connecting ground level to the height of the Broadway Bridge roadway.
Retired architect and former planner Ernie Munch was hired to review the recommended design, which he considers a waste of money and concrete.
“What I was impressed with was the amount of space that this ramp that goes round and round took up,” Munch told the Pearl District Neighborhood Association Planning and Transportation Committee last week. “I thought that was pretty expensive, and it takes up an area of the Park Blocks that could be better used for a park.”
By deleting the ramp, he realized that the Broadway Bridge already has a ramp that could adequately serve bikes and pedestrians, perhaps by widening it a few feet.
“I wanted to run this by the neighborhood before I started running it by the people who are responsible for the design,” Munch said.
Committee members generally agreed with Munch’s assessment.
“How did this obvious solution get away from us in the original planning?” asked Jason Naiman, a member of the committee and former student of Munch.
“I’m afraid we seem to be frozen on this one too,” committee member Linda Jackson said, describing the proposed ramp as “a wall of concrete.”
It is not clear the city will revisit the favored plan, but Munch offered to be the committee’s advocate if that’s it they want to do.
The committee called a special meeting Tuesday, June 3, to consider whether to support a new approach.