Project Area
The project area is primarily in NE 43rd Avenue between NE Fir Avenue and NE Hoyt Street.
What's Happening Now
The city's contractor has completed construction of the green street planters, storm drains, catch basins, and concrete work around the planters. They are doing various tasks to complete this phase of the project:
- Paint curbs to designate curb extensions as potential road hazards because the traveling public is not used to seeing infrastructure extending beyond the curb at these new planter locations.
- Coordinate with the Portland Bureau of Transportation on the installation of handrails where required.
- Coordinate with City inspectors to ensure new ADA ramps meet specifications.
- Coordinate with private property owners to resolve outstanding matters.
- Clean up work zones and public rights-of-way where the green street planters were installed.
- Clean up small area where a portable toiled burned to the ground overnight on Wednesday, September 11.
Future Plantings
Landscape crews will complete the green street planter plantings in October. The schedule is not known at this time. Plantings will include the plants planned for inside each new planter and any trees planned for either inside or outside the planters. Community outreach staff will provide notice of the plantings when they have the schedule.
Construction Methods
Crews will use a combination of trenchless and open trench excavation methods to construct the sewer and stormwater improvements in this project.
A trenchless method called Horizontal Directional Drilling will be used to construct a new sewer service lateral that will provide a property a new and conforming connection to the main line public sewer.
Open Trench Excavation will be used to install most of the other sewer and stormwater infrastructure in this project. Open trench excavation is the traditional method of sewer and stormwater construction and the most common method for installing new pipes and other infrastructure.
What to Expect
A Safe Work Site—We want you to be safe around the work site. Please keep children, pets, bikes, cars, and trucks away from the tools, machines, supplies, and construction workers.
Noise, Vibration, and Dust—Construction creates noise, vibration, and dust and disrupts normal neighborhood activity.
Traffic Delays—The work will slow down traffic in your neighborhood. Please plan ahead.
Access to Your Home or Business—We will try to make sure driveways stay accessible. Active construction may create short delays.
Parking Restrictions—The contractor may need to temporarily remove on-street parking spaces to stage equipment and materials and to create a safe work zone.
Maintained Service—You can still use sewer, water, and other services while we work on your street.
Work Hours—Work hours are 7 a.m. to 6 p.m., Monday through Friday. Sometimes we work on Saturdays from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Learn more about what to expect during sewer and stormwater construction projects.
Extreme Weather
When high temperatures, extreme heat, near freezing temperatures, or extreme cold are in the weather forecast, crews may adjust schedules to protect workers from the dangers of heat stress and cold stress. When working in extreme weather environments, all City workers, contractors, and subcontractors must follow Oregon’s OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) mandates and Environmental Services’ Heat Illness Safety and Health Plan and its Cold Stress Safety and Health Plan. You may see crews taking more frequent water and rest breaks, starting work as early as 6 a.m., stopping work at noon, and taking other protective measures during extreme weather.
Project Background
This project will not upsize portions of the public sewer main line to increase its capacity to handle combined sewer and stormwater. Instead, it will construct green street planters to reduce the flow of stormwater into the piped sewer system. These improvements will relieve basement sewer backup risks at 22 private properties and reduce the risk of street flooding at four maintenance access hole locations.
Design was extended beyond the anticipated timeline in 2023 due to new ADA curb ramp requirements from the Portland Bureau of Transportation and a nonconforming sewer line within the project area that requires a new service connection to the mainline public sewer.
We Want to Hear from You
Please let us know if you have a concern or question about this project. Be sure to include your name, property address, and project name (NE 43rd and Irving) in your voicemail and email so we can provide you more details about what to expect in front of your property. Also, please write “NE 43rd and Irving” in the subject line of your email.
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This project will help protect the health of the Willamette River Watershed.