Checking in on Two-way Court Street, new Historic Signs, and some Bike Parking

With the nice weather, less sunny on Sunday, but still nice, it was a good time to check in on the newly installed two-way section of Court Street downtown. There were several other new or newish items to note.

New median on Court at High

The brand new median on Court at High and the replacement median on Court at Commercial mainly function as a signal for cars. They are not very wide, especially the new one at High, and do not function very well as an actual pedestrian refuge island. There may be some traffic calming, but the benefits of the project for those traveling on foot or by rolling do not seem very significant in the end. If you are already confident biking downtown, the two-way segment might be helpful. But the project does nothing to entice new bike trips.

E. S. Lamport lettering in both directions

Not far away, between the refresh at the Starkey-McCully building and perhaps also the "streetscape" work, there appeared to be new sidewalk on Commercial between Chemeketa and Court. I think they salvaged the old lettering for the E. S. Lamport shop and reinstalled it in new concrete. I swear it used to be located in a slightly different place on the sidewalk, but I cannot find photos to confirm.

The final R and T of Lamport had already been whacked off in a previous instance of concrete cutting and replacement, and so this would represent at least a third context in the sidewalk setting.

E. S. Lamport sign (with yellow), 1887
(Salem Library Historic Photos)

And just another half-block north on Commercial, the exposed rock foundations for the State Insurance building were nice to see. They've been open for a few months now, but if you hadn't seen them already, they are an interesting curiosity.

Foundations for State Insurance Building

Foundations for State Insurance Bldg.

Most recently on the State Insurance Building see:

• "What to do with Remnants of State Insurance Building?"
  

A couple blocks south on Commercial, the New Holman Hotel had a plaque on the history of the site, with notes on the first Holman Building and then the Marion Car Park.

The copy was repetitive, and it seemed hastily or inattentively composed. Even retaining the same size plaque, there was room for more information! Still, it was nice to see.

Plaque at New Holman Hotel

The bike parking was a little baffling.

On the one hand, it was covered!

Covered bike parking, but rotated 90 degrees

But on the other hand, the stylish staple racks were rotated 90 degrees and didn't seem like they had quite enough clearance. They weren't placed for maximum utility and convenience, and it would be tricky to try to park six bikes there. Perhaps they were meant more as a camping deterrent than as fully functional bike parking.

• Previous notes on the hotel and site tagged "marion car park."

Newish Plaque at Jason Lee House site

Finally, a few blocks away it was nice to find the path behind the Police Station. It's probably been open for quite a while, but I hadn't walked on it yet. In that neighborhood there was also a new interpretive panel at the site of the Jason Lee House.

This new one gives a little better sense of the site than did the old Marion County right over the creek, directly across from Boon's on High/Broadway. 

• For more notes on the site and Jason Lee generally, see posts tagged "Jason Lee."

Addendum, May 2nd

I didn't notice this until staring at the image more, but you can see that the original part of the State Insurance Building had a different foundation. The first two-story Italianate block used a fitted rock foundation, and the addition of a second half, with the Mansarded third story, used a brick foundation. So this evolution of an early downtown building definitely left traces and evidence!

Two distinct foundations from different phases
(click to enlarge)