Residents of Portland’s Bayside and East End neighborhoods came together to stop the proposed widening of the Franklin Street arterial in 2006. We then held a community workshop to craft a vision for Franklin Street that actually addressed the challenges of the roadway, and articulated the opportunities in a redesigned corridor.

We formed the Franklin Reclamation Authority (FRA) to advance this community vision for Franklin Street, guiding our work through the Franklin Street planning studies from 2009-2015. This community vision continues to serve as FRA’s guiding light as the City of Portland finalizes the plans for a redesigned Franklin Street and prepares to move towards reconstruction.

Community Vision Statement

Franklin Street will be a beautiful, vibrant, urban street in the center of a new neighborhood. It will:

• connect the Waterfront to Back Cove, serving autos, existing and future transit, pedestrians, and cyclists equally.

• be designed for lower speeds, accommodate pedestrian and cyclist safety, and lower exhaust levels.

• provide a positive gateway experience, connect historic neighborhoods, reconnect the street grid, provide for human scale, pedestrian-oriented development, and allow for buildings oriented to the street.

• be redesigned to maximize the use of space, and provide an environmentally friendly framework for mixed use development and housing.

• provide connections to multi-use trails, access to greenspace, opportunities for community gardens, add land to Lincoln Park, and provide for trees and public art.

In summary, the redesign of Franklin Arterial will reverse outdated planning assumptions, and reintegrate the Portland Peninsula.