(June 10, 2025) The traveling public is advised to expect delays on West Burnside Street near SW Tichner Drive next Tuesday, June 17 between 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. During that time, the Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT) and Portland Parks & Recreation (PP&R) Urban Forestry division staff will partner to remove trees impacting slope stability above a recent landslide.
- From 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., West Burnside Street will be reduced to one travel lane in each direction.
- Additionally, full lane closures will be in place for both east and westbound travel lanes on West Burnside Street, limited to periods of approximately 20 minutes, while trees are cut down from the 100-foot rockface above the road.
- Flagging crews will be on site to direct traffic during the closure periods.
Lane reductions and closures are required to ensure the safety of the traveling public as Urban Forestry crews remove five large Big Leaf Maple trees from the top of the landslide. Once cut, the trees will fall over 100 feet to the ground with some uncertainty of precisely where they will land.
During this work, the traveling public is advised to expect delays, travel cautiously, observe all closures and directions by flaggers, and use alternate routes if possible. Public transit riders should check TriMet.org for service impacts.
SW Tichner Drive remains closed to vehicular traffic. Pedestrians on the sidewalk will be held at a safe distance and can expect similar delays for up to 20-minute intervals during active tree falling.
About the tree removals
Tree removals are required to eliminate “root jacking” of the rock slope. Root jacking is when the roots of larger trees growing on rock faces try to grow and expand into their surrounding environment. Their growth, impacted by limited places for their roots to extend, can displace the rock mass, causing instability.
The tree removal is the first of a multi-step response in the landslide rockfall mitigation and safe reopening of SW Tichner Drive to vehicle traffic.
Landslide response progress
PBOT has been actively responding to the SW Tichner Drive landslide since it occurred on March 29. During the initial landslide, over 1,000 cubic yards of rocky material broke free from a steep, 100-foot-tall rock face.
In April and May, PBOT engineers requested and reviewed contractor bids from rockfall mitigation and landslide response specialists. The City’s Chief Procurement Officer gave approval to elevate the response to emergency status, which allowed PBOT to work with selected contractors more quickly. PBOT expects to have contracts in place with two contractors - one specializing in geotechnical hazard response, and another to haul rocks and debris from the site – within a week.
Due to the continued risk of additional debris falling on the roadway, PBOT closed SW Tichner Drive to vehicle traffic in March when the landslide occurred. SW Tichner Drive is one of three main access points to the Arlington Heights neighborhood and popular Washington Park sites like the Japanese Gardens and International Rose Test Garden. PBOT staff and traffic engineers have been working with Arlington Heights residents and Washington Park partners on traffic congestion, increased traffic volumes, and access concerns due to the closure.
Details of upcoming work
Project response includes rockfall mitigation across an approximately 130-foot-wide by 110-foot-tall section of the rock slope above SW Tichner Drive and West Burnside Street.
Specific steps to mitigate the rockfall and safely reopen SW Tichner Drive to vehicle traffic can be found on the landslide response website.
Once contracts are in place, construction could take an estimated 1.5 to 2 months. The timeline duration can change based on slope conditions or other unknowns that may arise during on-site work.
Landslides in Portland
Portland typically experiences several landslides each winter which impact roads, sidewalks and other public right of way infrastructure. Those regularly involve mud and tree debris sliding from a hillside onto the roadway or sidewalk below.
In the case of SW Tichner, a large quantity of weathered rock and debris fell from more than 100 feet above the bottom of the hillside. Rockfall events this large are rare in the Portland area.