PORTLAND -- The manager of a fitness store in NE Portland is upset after a vehicle slammed into his building for the third time in less than a year. The most recent came early Wednesday morning.
"Nobody likes a three o'clock wake up call," said Jeff Hahn, sales director at Northwest Fitness.
Hahn has received a few of those calls since October 2010. He said since then three cars have slammed into his building. Several others have ended up in his parking lot with busted tires and oil pans.
"Usually they hit the island here and into the building, into the bio-swale there, or continuing straight on through," said Hahn.
Hahn said the city's new Burnside/Couch couplet is the reason for all the chaos. He said drivers do not know when the two-way streets turn into one-way.
"It's turned into a lot of bottle necking, traffic issues, and accidents, of course," said Hahn.
"We're looking, seeing what we can do," added Dan Anderson of the Portland Bureau of Transportation.
Anderson said the couplet is designed to ease congestion in the area. He said an engineer looked at the issue as recently as Monday.
"There are markings on the ground, markings in the air, signs on the street," said Anderson. "Drivers should be aware this street is turning when they come up on the intersection."
The city promises to consider short-term and long-term fixes.
"To me it's a band-aid on what's a big problem," said Hahn.
