The Defeat of the Mt. Hood Freeway (Portland, Ore.)

Sunday, December 17, 2006

The Defeat of the Mt. Hood Freeway (Portland, Ore.)

In Oregon, a battle raged for nearly twenty years over the construction of a highway project known as the Mt. Hood Freeway. If approved, the Freeway would have removed more than 1% of all housing stock in Portland. In the mid 1970s, after the proposal's defeat, the city opted to build a mass transit infrastructure. The result is a more pedestrian-friendly and livable city.

TOPP videographer, Clarence Eckerson Jr., takes us to Portland to see the results and posits that his own neighborhood in Brooklyn might have benefited from similar forethought during the planning phase of the Robert Moses-designed Brooklyn-Queens Expressway.

pb

Excellent video!
Dave

What a scam, it's full of as many lies as the other side. I was hoping to see something honest, not one that misconstrues nearly every point it tries to make.

Harbor Drive Freeway was removed because of I-405's completion, nothing more, nothing less.
kitten

Not true Dave. I-405 was intended to complement Harbor Drive, not replace it. It was the decision to move the freeway to the east bank of the river which facilitated the removal of the drive.
PDXSTEVE23

Dave is poorly misinformed but it's ok we love him anyway. =)
TJ

Not only does this site look great, it feels like the future ... finally moving out of the concrete prison cells of IBM-think into the liberated air of a new millenium.

Wish I'd found it sooner!
Duro

Just came across one of theses "ghost ramps" and was wondering....glad to have surfed across this site on accident...to have my curiosity satisfied. I live in Ladd's Addition...would be noisy here if this had gone through. Now it's walk-able, bike-able.
Haze

Oh, the debauchery of Portland's history. I remember when Neil was campaigning for Mayor in St. Johns. One of his main premises, at the informal rally, was built upon NOT building the Mt. Hood freeway. This topic was passionately and intelligently discussed among my elementary peers, at school, in the classroom...we were totally against it, even as children. I guess our teacher was a rather progressive thinker for that time. She commuted from Vancouver, Washington for work via I5, and I remember her bringing up issues of transportation and challenging us to brainstorm some environmentally friendly solutions. She'd be complaining about 1974 rush hour traffic, what a joke. Anyway, Neil won the election, and he did some good things for Portland--he did some naughty things, too-- again, we were just kids(so was she, Neil) and had no concept of all the political ramifications involved. Stump Town has always had its darker sides--ie: political corruption and organized crime. Trouble in River City. Portland, oh Portland. I love your deviant past. My Grandmother "waited" tables in strip clubs in Old Town during WWII. It seems China Town was happenin'! I was told that unsuspecting men would get shanghaied from the underground opium dens, where she and her Asian mobster boyfriends would sometimes get chased by Portland's finest. Poor guy would wake up at sea, and in a position of servitude. Can you imagine? "Dude, now you're a sailor." Anyway, it sure was a mess down there, when they tore up Waterfront and made the park, but it was well worth it,(especially for Bill Naito!). It cleaned up the seedy, unsavory neighborhood it had become. The City of Roses is growing. Living in the valley, I miss everything about it, and will always adore its sordid past.
Jeffrey Jensen

Great video guys! You captured the essence of how Portland's citizenry cut their teeth and were able to define themselves. You ever though about following this passion and becoming civil engineers? You have the curiosity and have done a good job showing the second, and third order effects. I say go for it. Fix Brooklyn, it is possible.
http://www.islandtransformations.org Lloyd Skaalen

Thank you Portland, Gerry Fox and others, for providing so much leadership in the transition from an autocentric society to a far more livable future! We are using this video and your experiences to try to influence our politicians to approve similar infrastructure changes in Victoria, BC. We might get there by 2020.
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Deborah

As always, loved the video. Thanks for the great piece Street Films! It's really nice to get some history on why Portland has become such a great place to live. Of course it's not perfect yet, but with active voters hopefully we'll get closer every year!
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janetlackey

thank you for this video. I live in Buckman and it's hard for me to imagine what it would be like here if the Mt Hood Freeway existed. I am so happy it didn't. this was really informative.
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Clarence Eckerson

You are quite welcome! Thanks for watching. There are over 500 more to choose from!
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Denise Hiter

Thanks for the info. I was wondering why that was there. Moved here 13 years ago and missed that tidbit.

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