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46-761: The plaza extends northward from the Burnside Bridge along NW Naito Parkway and follows the flow of the Willamette River . The plan, sponsored by the Japanese American Citizens League with Bill Naito encouraging its proposal, was accepted in 1988. Designed by landscape architect Robert Murase , the plaza tells the important history of the Japanese in Oregon. It illuminates the challenges faced by Japanese immigrant and

92-622: A level railroad crossing that serves as a passenger and freight access point to Union Station . Naito Parkway ends just after the Fremont Bridge, at its intersection with NW 15th Avenue, although the street itself continues in a northwest direction as NW Front Avenue. Several radial TriMet bus lines serving southwestern suburbs of Portland access Downtown via the southern portion of Naito Parkway. These lines include: All routes merge northbound onto Naito from Barbur Boulevard and turn west after entering Downtown to provide connection to

138-442: A building material was a large factor in the fire's spread, and efforts to rebuild the affected area heavily employed brick and iron in an intentional effort to improve construction quality. Builders also became increasingly focused on architectural aesthetics, and by the 1880s, both sides of Front's commercial core were lined with multi-story buildings featuring decorative cast iron fronts and wooden colonnades. Repeated floods of

184-532: A dozen local bus routes, all of which are services of TriMet , the transit agency operating within the Oregon side of the Portland metropolitan area . C-Tran , the transit agency for Clark County, Washington , additionally serves it with two express bus routes—#105 I-5 Express and #164 Fisher’s Landing Express. The transit mall was conceived as part of Portland's 1972 Downtown Plan. It opened in 1977 and until light rail trains were added in 2009, buses were

230-685: A freight train crossing at the Steel Bridge. In 2019, runners went off-route after missing a turn onto the Ross Island Bridge and continuing south on Naito. Naito Parkway runs adjacent to many notable buildings and other landmarks, particularly as it passes through the Skidmore/Old Town Historic District. Portland Transit Mall The Portland Transit Mall is a 1.2-mile (1.9 km) public transit corridor that travels north–south through

276-533: A greatly reduced size on the mall signs (much smaller in size than the new letter indications) and were no longer used at all in other TriMet media, such as the covers of bus schedules. They disappeared entirely in January 2007. In 2004, it was decided to add MAX light rail to the transit mall, as TriMet's existing MAX routing through downtown was nearing its design capacity and another line (the Green Line )

322-731: A large new passenger shelter was installed. In addition to a pay telephone , every shelter was equipped with a closed-circuit television monitor giving riders information as to the next three departures on each bus route serving that particular stop. This particular feature of the Portland Transit Mall was said to be a "first" for urban transit at the time (1977), having previously been used only in intercity transportation terminals, mainly airports. The information system came into use in January 1978. The monitors were originally black-and-white, but were replaced by color ones in 1988. Most bus routes serving downtown Portland followed

368-673: A particular sector of the city, e.g., the Rose being for routes serving Southwest Portland and the Fish for North Portland routes. When TriMet's first light rail line opened in 1986, use of the Snowflake symbol on the mall was discontinued, as all TriMet routes in that sector were curtailed to terminate at a light rail station, such as the Gateway Transit Center , and no longer traveled to downtown. This operating configuration for

414-567: A thoroughfare. Harbor was closed in 1974 and demolition began to make way for Tom McCall Waterfront Park , once again making Front Avenue the nearest street to the west-side waterfront. In 1987, Skanner owner Bernie Foster led a push to change the street's name to honor civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr. Over 200 surveyed property owners opposed the change, while only nine supported it. Foster eventually succeeded in renaming Union Avenue to Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd. In 1996,

460-419: Is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Naito Parkway Naito Parkway is a major thoroughfare of Portland in the U.S. state of Oregon . It was formerly known as Front Avenue and Front Street and was renamed in 1996 to honor Bill Naito . It runs between SW Barbur Boulevard and NW Front Avenue, and adjacent to Tom McCall Waterfront Park through Downtown Portland . Starting from

506-471: Is completed. The beginning of Naito Parkway coincided with the birth of Portland , when William P. Overton built his home along the waterfront in 1841. In these early days of the city, Naito was known as Front Street, and was the center of the downtown commercial core. Front consisted of a large levee , which was considered by many community members to be a public street, although a court ruling found it to be private in 1862. The first school in Oregon

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552-547: The Marquam Bridge , and into Downtown Portland . After passing Harbor Drive , which provides an I-5 southbound connection, the parkway runs adjacent to Tom McCall Waterfront Park through most of downtown, with connections to the Hawthorne and Morrison bridges. The Morrison Bridge provides a second connection to I-5. Between these two bridges in the median of Naito is Mill Ends Park which is, according to some,

598-554: The Portland Bureau of Transportation began the Better Naito project, closing one northbound lane of Naito during the summer months in order to convert it into a cycle track and pedestrian area that runs the length of Tom McCall Waterfront Park. The bureau plans to make these changes permanent and year-round by 2020, but has decided to keep the temporary cycle track in place from January 2019 until permanent construction

644-641: The Portland Transit Mall . Routes then return to Naito southbound. These routes also connect to the Portland Streetcar at Naito and Harrison Street. Line 16, a radial line serving Sauvie Island and the far northern neighborhoods of Linnton and St. Johns , accesses Downtown via the north end of Naito, turns west on Oak Street to provide connection to the Transit Mall, and then returns to Naito northbound. Starting in 2015,

690-799: The Portland Vintage Trolley also served the transit mall on certain Sundays. In September 2015, the new MAX Orange Line replaced the Yellow Line service in the southbound direction on the mall, on 5th Avenue, with the Orange and Yellow lines being through-routed at all times. The Portland Transit Mall (formally named simply the Portland Mall ) was constructed by TriMet , the Portland metropolitan area 's regional transit agency, in 1976–77 and opened on December 11, 1977. It

736-636: The Waterfront Blues Festival , Rose Festival , and the Oregon Brewers Festival . The Rose Festival's Starlight Run uses Naito as a starting point, and also used it as a finish point in 2019. Naito has been used as a starting and finishing point in the Portland Marathon , and has been involved in media attention regarding mishaps in the race. In 2018, runners approaching the final stretch were delayed by

782-400: The 1885 Fechheimer & White Building and the 1857 Hallock–McMillan Building , which stands today as Portland's oldest extant building. Before dawn on December 22, 1872, a fire was discovered at a Chinese laundry between Alder and Morrison Street on the east side of Front Street. Due in part to windy conditions and flammable trash piled up between the pilings of the waterfront buildings,

828-549: The Portland Bureau of Planning recommended the elimination of Harbor Drive, in order to expand the city's park system and give the public access to the waterfront. Interstate 5 was completed in 1964 on the east bank of the river, and I-405 was completed on the west side in 1969. Completion of the Fremont Bridge in 1973 completed the city's current freeway loop, drastically reducing the need for Harbor Drive as

874-532: The Portland Mall remained largely unchanged for 29 years, before the mall closed for rebuilding in early 2007. TriMet discontinued use of the distinctive graphic symbols used at mall stops at that time, but the symbols had already been relegated to secondary status in 2002, when they were replaced by purely geographic, letter designations such as N or NE (for North Portland or Northeast Portland) for each grouping. The graphic sector symbols were retained only at

920-446: The Portland Mall's design permitted private vehicle traffic to use the left lane, but only in short, two-block segments. In every third block, the lefthand (auto) lane disappeared for one block, and the otherwise three-lane-wide street became two lanes wide and restricted to buses only. In this way, two-thirds of the specific blocks along 5th Avenue and 6th Avenue remained open to cars, but use of those streets for through travel by cars

966-673: The Vintage Trolley service was discontinued in 2014, running for the last time on July 6 of that year. The MAX Mall Shuttle was a service that operated from 2009 until 2011, weekday afternoons only. Introduced on September 14, 2009, it supplemented the light-rail service provided on the mall by the Yellow and Green lines and operated only between Union Station and PSU, about every 30 minutes on weekdays from noon until 5:30 p.m. TriMet discontinued this supplementary shuttle service effective June 5, 2011 (making Friday, June 3

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1012-489: The Willamette, including a major one in 1894, encouraged commercial development to move further away from the river. In addition, the arrival of the railroad meant that the river was no longer the primary means of shipping. By the turn of the century, much of the river's shipping traffic had moved north, the commercial core had migrated west to Fourth and Fifth Avenue, and many buildings along Front sat abandoned. Many of

1058-412: The area around Portland State University in the early 2000s. TriMet's Fareless Square (renamed the "Free Rail Zone" in 2010) encompassed the entire mall until discontinued in 2012, and these two facilities/measures, among others, have contributed to TriMet's having become one of the nation's most successful and most-studied public transportation systems. Prior to its closure for rebuilding in 2007,

1104-452: The building, which was used as the first location of the Ladd and Tilton Bank. The narrow strip of land between the Willamette River and Front's downtown section was occupied by a series of wharves , many of which were open to public use. This proximity to the river made Front an economic hub for the city. Many brick commercial buildings were constructed on the west side of Front, including

1150-456: The center of downtown in Portland, Oregon , United States. It comprises a pair of one-way streets —6th Avenue for northbound traffic and 5th Avenue for southbound—along which two of three lanes are restricted to transit buses and light rail vehicles only. As of September 2022 , the corridor is served by the Green , Orange , and Yellow lines of MAX Light Rail ; Frequent Express ; and over

1196-433: The city renamed the street Naito Parkway to honor local investor, philanthropist, and civic leader Bill Naito . The change went into effect only a few months after Naito's death, against a city code requiring that a person be deceased for at least five years before a street can be named after them. Naito Parkway is often partially closed or otherwise modified to accommodate events at Tom McCall Waterfront Park, including

1242-558: The desired direction. This prevents cars' making right turns into the path of an oncoming bus or light rail car, which might be unable safely to stop in time to prevent a serious collision. On September 13, 2009, the Sundays-only Portland Vintage Trolley service moved to the transit mall from a different route it had followed since 1991. The trolley cars served the full length of the mall, from Union Station to Portland State University . However,

1288-493: The few routes that were shortened slightly, to terminate in the southern part of downtown upon the mall's closure for rebuilding in 2007, have been permanently revised so as to no longer serve the mall, where replacement service is now being provided by light rail. The mall is currently served by 17 TriMet bus routes, six of which only operate in peak hours (at least on that part of their route). Only one 1977 shelter survived demolition; located near Southwest 5th and Salmon streets, it

1334-469: The fire spread quickly and engulfed buildings on both sides of the block. The fire destroyed two city blocks before it was extinguished. The city officially blamed the Chinese for the fire, and there were reports that a group of white residents had drowned three Chinese men in the Willamette during the blaze. Portland Police also rounded up Chinese men at gunpoint and forced them to work water pumps to fight

1380-489: The fire. In spite of official and popular blame being placed on Chinese residents, it is now thought that the fire was more likely an act of racially-motivated arson. On August 2 of the following year, the Great Fire of 1873 started at a furniture store on Front. The area damaged by the 1872 fire acted as a buffer, aiding in containment efforts. In spite of this, over 20 blocks were destroyed. The prevalence of wood as

1426-484: The incarnations of people with Japanese ancestors. The plaza represents the poems of the experience of the Japanese immigrants and an important reminder of the U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights. The Oregon Nikkei Endowment administers the plaza, which features Songs of Innocence, Songs of Experience (1990), a bronze-and-stone sculpture by Jim Gion . This Multnomah County , Oregon state location article

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1472-565: The mall's traffic lanes in such a way as to permit autos and other private traffic to use the left lane for the entire lengths of 5th and 6th avenues, a controversial decision. The project would also extend the mall south, from Madison Street all the way to the southern end of downtown and of Fareless Square, at the Stadium Freeway (I-405) , thereby reaching Portland State University . The Portland Transit Mall temporarily closed for rebuilding on January 14, 2007. The work carried out over

1518-474: The mall, when the Yellow Line was shifted from its original (2004) downtown routing. On September 12, 2009, the new Green Line opened, and it serves the transit mall as well. In the new design, MAX stops are located every 4–5 blocks, and a bus (on a given route) also stops only every 4–5 blocks. Groupings of stops are marked by letters: A, B, C or D on 5th Avenue, and W, X, Y or Z on 6th Avenue. All of

1564-463: The new bus stops. Some routes were cut back to the southern part of downtown, making a loop along Columbia and Jefferson Streets. In 2007, local officials and businessmen expressed confidence that the renovation and extension of the transit mall would foster major new property redevelopment in downtown over the next several years. Bus service returned to the mall on May 24, 2009. Three months later, on August 30, 2009, MAX light rail began serving

1610-524: The next two years included the addition of light rail tracks and widening, to three lanes, all of the few south-of-Burnside sections which had previously been intentionally narrowed (by the original 1970s design) to two lanes and bus-only. During the lengthy closure, all bus routes using the mall were diverted to other streets, many to the nearby pair of 3rd Avenue (southbound) and 4th Avenue (northbound), where they had to share all traffic lanes with private vehicles but with parking temporarily removed at all of

1656-561: The only transit vehicles using it. The mall was rebuilt and extended southwards from 2007 to 2009, and it reopened for buses on May 24, 2009. Light rail service on the mall was introduced on August 30, 2009, with the shifting of the MAX Yellow Line to the mall from its original routing in downtown, and a second MAX line, the Green Line, began serving the mall two weeks later, on September 12. Between fall 2009 and July 2014,

1702-495: The south, SW Naito Parkway begins at its interchange with Barbur Boulevard. Up to that point, Barbur serves as Oregon Route 99W (OR 99W) and OR 10 , but Naito takes over this designation north of the interchange. Continuing northbound, the parkway has an interchange with the Ross Island Bridge , part of U.S. Highway 26 (US 26). The street then passes over Interstate 405 (I-405), including ramps for

1748-587: The street, the city built the Portland Public Market in 1933. Front Street was renamed Front Avenue in 1935. The 1942 opening of Harbor Drive cut Front Avenue completely off from the river, and replaced it as the main thoroughfare along the waterfront. Front was also widened as part of this project. All 79 buildings between Front and the river were torn down as a result, including the Portland Public Market. By 1968,

1794-938: The transit mall, but a few remained on so-called "cross-mall" routings, along east-west streets, originally Morrison and Yamhill streets but shifted to Washington and Salmon streets with the start of MAX construction in the early 1980s. With regard to operations, the mall was designed with two bus stops in each block, or about one stop every 100 feet (30 m). However, a bus operating on any given route only stopped at every fourth stop, i.e., every two blocks. TriMet adopted symbols and colors for each grouping of stops, so that bus riders could easily determine which particular stop locations were served by their routes. The colors/symbols, which were marked by large signs at each stop and also shown on public schedules and maps, were as follows: Brown Beaver, Green Leaf, Yellow Rose, Orange Deer, Red Fish, Purple Raindrops and Blue Snowflake. They were also called "sector symbols", as each one corresponded to

1840-513: The wharves along Front were torn down in 1929 in order to build a seawall and sewer interceptor . The seawall remedied problems with flooding, but loss of the wharves substantially diminished commercial purpose for the area. The Great Depression led to further decline in Front's commercial importance, and many of the multi-story buildings that remained occupied were vacant except for the ground floor storefronts. As part of an effort to rejuvenate

1886-687: The world's smallest park. Naito then passes by the Portland Saturday Market and under the Burnside Bridge , at which point it becomes NW Naito Parkway. Next, it has an interchange with the Steel Bridge , where it loses its Highway 99W designation, as that route crosses over the bridge to continue on N Interstate Avenue. The parkway continues north to pass under the Broadway and Fremont bridges. It then passes through

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1932-412: Was being planned and was expected to be added to the system within a few years. Also, the mall was approaching three decades of use, and was in need of a heavy renovation. TriMet and transportation planners from the city and Metro studied how best to accommodate both buses and light rail on the mall. During this process, it was also decided, at the urging of the downtown business community, to reconfigure

1978-571: Was formally dedicated in March 1978. The mall comprises 5th Avenue, for southbound buses, and 6th Avenue, for northbound buses, and when first opened it involved the sections of those streets extending from West Burnside Street to SW Madison Street: the central core of downtown. In June 1994, the mall was extended northward through Chinatown to Union Station (used by Amtrak ) and the Greyhound bus depot . Short, unconnected additions were made in

2024-404: Was housed in a small wooden building on Front and Taylor Street, which started in 1845 and was led by Oregon's first practicing teacher and doctor, Ralph Wilcox . The city's first brick building was constructed on the west side of Front in 1853, when William S. Ladd commissioned Absalom B. Hallock to build his liquor and wine store. Shortly after, Hallock was commissioned to add a second floor to

2070-449: Was prohibited. The 1970s rebuilding of 5th and 6th avenues as transit-priority streets included several changes designed to create an environment that was more attractive and inviting to transit users and other pedestrians. Sidewalks were widened and repaved in brick, many additional trees were planted, new works of public art were commissioned and installed, and amenities such as benches and flower planters were added. At each bus stop,

2116-430: Was spared as a reminder of the previous transit mall, later re-purposed as a concession stand . Although cars and trucks are now allowed to use the left lane for the entire length of the transit mall, they are—with the exception of a very few locations—not permitted to turn right at any intersections. A motorist wanting to turn right from the transit mall must turn left, and make two additional left turns, to end up in

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