For Immediate Release

April 12, 2012

Portland, OR– The City of Portland announces that construction work to realign one block of SE Bush Street, between SE 99^th and SE 100^th Avenues in Southeast Portland, will start the week of April 16, 2012.  The street work will take about two months to complete.

The street change is necessary to accommodate the need for more property for the city’s new Emergency Coordination Center (ECC).  The ECC building will be adjacent to the current Portland Communications Center (911 Center) and Ed Benedict Park. Construction of the ECC is anticipated to begin in June and be completed by late 2013.

The Emergency Coordination Centeri s the location from which City officials and staff coordinate local response and recovery to a major emergency. Concern has grown in recent years that the current ECC operation -- now housed within the 911 Center -- is inadequate because of its small size, split-level design separating ECC functions from one another, and lack of modern communications equipment.

The centralized and expanded ECC facility will also house the daily operations of the Portland Bureau of Emergency Management and the Portland Water Bureau’s Emergency Management and Security programs.

The new SE Bush Street will be built to current City standards with sidewalks and stormwater treatment features. It will accommodate on-street parking. The existing section of SE Bush Street, between SE 99^th and SE 100^th Avenues, will be removed once the new section of SE Bush Street is open and fully operational.

For more information, contact

Tim Hall, PWB Public Outreach,

503-823-6926, 503-381-0056

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