Campus address to change once city creates “South Portland” zone

Starting May 1, 2020, Lewis & Clark and surrounding areas will have new addresses. The City of Portland is making several changes to the address system of Southwest Portland in order to improve safety and ease confusion.

LC was informed of the pending change by the City of Portland last year, and was given an opportunity to ask questions and voice concerns. After consulting with South Portland Addressing Project Manager Andrew Aebi, an LC alum, the college endorsed the proposal in a public testimony to the Portland City Council, given by Director of Public Relations Roy Kaufmann.

Kaufmann testified that the college is in favor of the change.

“Andrew (Aebi) made the time to discuss the proposed changes to South Portland addressing with various members of the Lewis & Clark community,” Kaufmann said. “As a result, we feel well informed and consequently able to testify in favor of the project.”

The project will consist of two major practical changes: the addition of a new sextant, “South Portland,” and the removal of leading zeros in street addresses. According to the Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT), “The ongoing time and expense dealing with leading zero addressing will be eliminated with a one-time expense to replace street signs in this area, including for north-south streets.”

The new sextant will be carved out of the current Southwest sextant. It will include the neighborhoods of South Waterfront, Collins View and Riverdale. “South Portland” will consist of the parts of Southwest Portland that have address numbers with leading zeros. PBOT states that this is about 8% of Southwest Portland addresses.

The new sextant will allow for the removal of leading zeros in address numbers without colliding with currently existing street addresses. For example, LC’s primary address number will change from 0615 to 615. These zeros are being removed for reasons such as incompatibility with 911 computer systems, improved 911 call response time and conformity to the United States Postal Service (USPS) standards. Leading zeros are rare in the U.S. due to the confusion they cause.

With these new alterations, LC’s address will change from 0615 Southwest Palatine Hill Road to 615 South Palatine Hill Road. USPS will be honoring the old address along with the new address after the official change for one year.After April 30, 2021, the USPS will only recognize the new address.