Project Area Map
What’s Happening Now
Over the next several months, work crews will be in the project area to perform investigative activities. Activities include site visits and evaluation, survey, utility locates, and pipe cleaning and inspection.
Some investigative activities will require restricting parking and temporarily closing travel lanes. The traveling public should expect minor traffic delays.
Information gathered will help determine the repair locations, construction methods, and how to minimize construction impacts on residents and businesses. Learn more about these pre-construction activities.
Proposed Night Work
Engineers have identified several locations that will likely require night work (see map). Due to the length and diameter of a few pipes, and for traffic safety reasons, some of the work will extend a few hours beyond 6:00 p.m. or will need to be done overnight.
Equipment that generates noise could include sewer cleaning trucks, compressors, light trucks, a drill rig, drill pipes, generators, pumps, ventilation fans. Night work will also require lighting of the work zone.
Submit Comments to Portland Noise Program
All work occurring after 6:00 p.m. or before 7:00 a.m. requires a noise variance from the Portland Noise Program. Environmental Services will apply for a noise variance to enable the city’s contractors to work both days and nights in certain locations. Your comments regarding the proposed schedule to work both days and nights are valuable. You may submit them to the Portland Noise Program by letter, email, or telephone.
Please submit comments by Friday, December 16 to: Portland Noise Program, 1221 SW 4th Avenue, Suite 110, Portland, OR 97204, Email: noise@portlandoregon.gov, Phone: 503-823-7350.
Construction Methods
This project will include both trenchless and trench excavation methods:
- Pipe Lining (CIPP): This is a trenchless repair in which the contractor inserts a flexible liner into the existing pipe through a maintenance hole. The liner hardens to seal cracks and form a new smooth pipe.
- Open Trench Excavation: The contractor digs a trench, installs a new pipe, fills in the trench, and restores the patched trench with new pavement.
Visit the Construction Methods webpage for more details and photos of construction methods.
Public and Private Property Access
Most information-gathering activities will occur in the public right-of-way. The public right-of-way includes the street, sidewalks, planting strips, and sometimes undeveloped areas like yards or gravel spaces. In the Hillsdale neighborhood, the public right-of-way often extends well into what appears to be private property, including what can appear to be private front lawns. Crews will be accessing these areas to inspect, maintain, and repair public sewer pipes and manholes.
Public Sewer Easements
In addition, where the city has public sewer easements, crews may need to access private property for survey, other information-gathering activities, and eventual possible sewer repairs. City outreach staff will coordinate with affected property owners for access to public sewer pipes and manholes.
Upcoming Information Session
We are scheduled to give a brief presentation at the Hillsdale Neighborhood Association (HNA) meeting Wednesday, January 4 at 7 pm. Please join us to learn more about the project. To find the zoom link, visit the HNA webpage closer to the presentation date.
We Want to Hear from You
Environmental Services will inform residents about project activities and respond to questions and concerns in a timely manner. Please contact us if you have questions or concerns about this project.
Sewer Emergency: In the event of a sewer backup or basement flooding, call the Maintenance hotline immediately at 503-823-1700. It is staffed all hours and all days, 24/7.
Nearby Construction Work
Fulton Pump Mains Replacement
The Water Bureau will install 3,350 feet of drinking water pipes in southwest Portland that are between 60 and 109 years old and have reached the end of their useful life. This Fulton Pump Mains Replacement project is anticipated to go into construction in Spring of 2023. For more information about the Water Bureau work, visit the Project Webpage or contact the Water Bureau’s Outreach Representative, Bonita Oswald at Bonita.Oswald@portlandoregon.gov.
Project Background
This project is part of a series of large-scale sewer projects that have, or will be occurring, in the Hillsdale neighborhood. The Hillsdale South Sewer Project finished construction in January 2021, and the Hillsdale North and Hillsdale NW projects are currently in the design phase.
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