Fixing Our Streets projects (2024-2028)

Background

The Fixing Our Streets program at the Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT) is focused on providing basic maintenance and safety services. It is funded by a local 10-cent per gallon gas tax on light vehicles and a companion Heavy Vehicle Use Tax (HVUT).

Portland voters established the 10-cent per gallon local gas tax with 53% support in 2016. In that same year, Portland City Council established the HVUT to ensure that trucks pay their proportionate share for street maintenance and safety. After four years of the program, Portland voters overwhelmingly renewed the 10-cent local gas tax in 2020 and 2024. Portland City Council re-passed the HVUT in 2020 and 2024 as well.

From 2016 through 2024, Portland’s existing Fixing Our Streets program will have generated approximately $150 million for basic transportation safety and maintenance services. These resources have funded safety improvements across Portland including projects at high-crash locations and near schools. Investments have also focused on preventive pavement maintenance, helping to avoid larger reconstruction costs in the future.

The draft proposal provided for the 2024 renewal kept Portland’s gas tax at 10 cents per gallon. The average driver would continue to pay roughly $5 per month for the tax. This figure is based on driving 12,000 miles a year in a vehicle with a fuel efficiency of 20 miles per gallon, with all fuel purchased within the city of Portland.

Since the start of the Fixing Our Streets program, an oversight committee has provided accountability. This group uses the resource allocation strategy outlined below and detailed in city council documents to guide their oversight.

When voters renewed the 10-cent gas tax in May 2024, PBOT estimated it would generate $70.5 million over four years for street maintenance and safety improvements as detailed below. Funds will be allocated as follows: 

Smoother Streets Projects ($23.5 million):

• Paving busy streets and neighborhood greenways ($19 million)
• Paving local streets ($4.5 million)

Safer Streets Projects ($23.5 million):

• Safety on busy streets ($9 million)
• Safety on neighborhood streets ($6 million)
• Safe Routes to School ($6 million)
• Additional safety enhancements ($2.5 million)

Community Street Services ($23.5 million):

• Potholes ($5.5 million)
• Signals and lighting maintenance ($3.5 million)
• Gravel Street Service ($4 million)
• Base repair ($4 million)
• Safer intersections ($2 million)
• Pedestrian, bicycle, and public space retrofits ($2.5 million)
• Residential street safety and traffic calming ($2 million)

Smoother Streets Projects ($23.5 million)

What is it? 

Fixing Our Streets (2024-2028) paving dollars are focused on preventive maintenance like grind-and-inlay and sealing treatments that preserve and extend the life of our roads. This includes reconstructing corner curb ramps to improve accessibility and upgrading pavement markings to current standards. It also includes installing high-visibility crosswalks or adding striped buffers to bike lanes where space allows.

Allocation

Total of $23.5 million for paving projects, spread approximately equally across the four new city council districts. Includes:

• $19 million for grind-and-inlay paving projects on collector streets and arterials, transit and freight routes, emergency routes, streets on our High Crash Network, the Neighborhood Greenways that make up our pedestrian and bike network. This work will be informed by PBOT’s Equity Matrix.
• $4.5 million for crack seal and slurry seal projects on local streets.

Project list (by council district)

Safer Streets Projects ($23.5 million)

On Jan. 14, 2025, the Fixing Our Streets Oversight Committee approved the first batch of Safer Streets Projects. These projects represent the first two years of projects. Additional projects will be identified by summer 2026.

Safety on busy streets ($9 million)

What is it? 

This category is designed to provide small-scale safety improvements to reduce conflicts, address high-crash locations, and lower speeds on busy streets. It would provide funds for new or improved crossings, sidewalks, and lighting along our busiest streets, especially for projects that can leverage additional outside funding. Consistent with Portland’s Vision Zero strategy, investments will be focused on the High Crash Network. This network represents 8% of Portland streets yet accounts for 62% of traffic deaths.

Allocation

• Approximately $1 million or more will be invested in each of the four new city council districts.
• $5 million to make larger safety investments informed by PBOT’s Equity Matrix, especially projects that leverage additional outside funding.

Priority locations 

• Where safety improvements are needed on the High Crash Network or other documented high-crash segments or intersections along busy streets in Portland
• High priorities in PedPDX: Portland’s Citywide Pedestrian Plan, based on the need for safety, equity, and access to transit and major destinations

Project list (with council district listed)

• Districts 1, 2, 3 and 4: Accessible pedestrian signal and countdown module retrofits – IN DESIGN
• Districts 1: SE 92nd Avenue and Clinton Street - Pedestrian crossing improvement – IN PROJECT DEVELOPMENT
• Districts 1: NE Halsey Street from 160th to 162nd avenues - Crash reduction – IN PROJECT DEVELOPMENT
• Districts 2, 3 and 4: Protected left turns for safer intersections – IN PROJECT DEVELOPMENT
• Districts 2, 3 and 4: Street lighting on High Crash Corridors – IN DESIGN
• Districts 2: Safe signal timing improvements – IN DESIGN
• Districts 3: Multimodal signal sensor for safety – IN DESIGN
• Districts 4: W Burnside Street - Safe signal timing improvements – IN DESIGN

Safety on neighborhood streets ($6 million)

What is it?

Neighborhood streets are often the main routes for people walking, rolling, and biking to their local schools, parks, and main streets. This category would fund traffic calming such as speed bumps and diverters, crosswalks, and other improvements along our low-traffic pedestrian and bike network known as Neighborhood Greenways, especially around parks, schools, main streets, and other destinations.

Allocation

A total of $6 million for safety projects like neighborhood greenways, traffic calming such as speed bumps and diverters, and crosswalks on local streets and minor collectors that primarily serve the surrounding neighborhoods, as follows:

• Approximately $750,000 or more invested in each of the four new council districts.
• $3 million to make larger safety investments with a focus on areas that score higher on PBOT’s Equity Matrix, especially projects that leverage additional outside funding.

Priority locations

• Projects in neighborhood safety plans such as East Portland in Motion, Southwest in Motion, North Portland in Motion, Lower Southeast Rising, and Connected Cully
• Neighborhood-level projects that address deficiencies in the pedestrian and bicycle network identified by our citywide pedestrian and bicycle plans
• Small-scale safety projects that respond to issues reported by community members and organizations through our safety hotline or direct outreach. Projects are vetted by engineering staff to confirm the need and level of safety benefit.

Safe Routes to School ($6 million) 

What is it? 

PBOT’s Safe Routes to School program is a partnership between the city, schools, neighborhoods, community organizations, and agencies. Projects are designed to improve the safety of students and families walking, biking, and rolling to school.

Allocation

A total of $6 million for safety projects like crossings, traffic calming, lighting, signage, and improvements along neighborhood greenways directly adjacent to schools and on the main routes regularly used by students and caregivers to get to school, as follows:

• Approximately $750,000 or more invested in each of the four new city council districts.
• $3 million to make larger safety investments with a focus on areas that score higher on PBOT’s Equity Matrix, especially projects that leverage additional outside funding.

Priority Locations

• Identified projects in the Safe Routes to School plan, developed in 2017 with the first cycle of funding from Fixing Our Streets
• Other Safe Routes to School projects added since 2017 because of new or emerging issues due to changes in school boundaries or other developments

Project list (by council district)

• District 1: SE 112th Avenue and Boise Street - Pedestrian median island and marked crosswalks – IN PROJECT DEVELOPMENT
• District 2: High-visibility crosswalks on the High Crash Network – IN PROJECT DEVELOPMENT
• District 3: SE 52nd Avenue and Franklin Street - High-visibility crosswalk – IN PROJECT DEVELOPMENT
• District 3: NE 43rd Avenue and Royal Court - Intersection improvement – IN PROJECT DEVELOPMENT
• District 3: SE Woodward Street from 57th to 58th avenues - Sidewalk infill – IN DESIGN
• District 3: SE 62nd Avenue and Cooper Street - Sidewalk infill – IN DESIGN
• District 3: SE Glenwood Street from 44th to 45th avenues - Sidewalk infill– IN PROJECT DEVELOPMENT
• District 4: SW 35th Avenue from Huber to Arnold streets - Lighting upgrades – IN DESIGN

Additional safety enhancements ($2.5 million) 

What is it?

This program is designed to provide additional safety elements to maintenance projects. This combines both safety and maintenance work.

Allocation

• $2.5 million citywide to leverage repaving projects, utility projects, and other similar work to add safety features like enhanced crossings and other pedestrian and bikeway improvements

Priority locations

• Projects will be primarily chosen based on leverage opportunity and consistency with existing plans, public input, and cost effectiveness
• The work will be informed by PBOT’s Equity Matrix.

Project list

Each of these safety enhancement projects is linked to a Smoother Streets paving project:

• NE Broadway: 11th to 22nd avenues – IN DESIGN
• NE Glisan Street: 84th Avenue to 167 feet east of 94th Avenue – IN DESIGN
• SW Sixth Avenue: Sheridan Street to Broadway (SW Terwilliger Boulevard to SW Fourth Avenue connection) – IN DESIGN

Community Street Services ($23.5 million)

What is it? 

Responding to routine maintenance and safety requests. Examples of this work include filling potholes, fixing damaged traffic signals and streetlights, maintaining gravel streets, and calming traffic.

Allocations

• Potholes ($5.5 million) - Funds a crew to address potholes
• Gravel Street Service ($4 million) - Funds a crew focused on PBOT’s Gravel Street Service throughout the city
• Base repair ($4 million) - Funds base repair projects
• Signal and lighting maintenance ($3.5 million) - Funds signal and streetlight repair and maintenance
• Safer intersections ($2 million) - Funds safety improvements at intersections with signals. Examples: adding accessible pedestrian push buttons and bicycle detection, changing signals to give people walking and bicycling a head start crossing the street, and adjustments to signal timing.
• Pedestrian, bicycle, and public space retrofits ($2.5 million) - Funds permanent upgrades to temporary safety installations. Examples: replacing reflective plastic wands along a bike lane with concrete traffic separators; replacing a painted curb extension with a concrete one; or supplementing planters with concrete islands.
• Residential street safety and traffic calming ($2 million) - Provides funding for PBOT’s hotline to respond to safety concerns from the public. This would also fund traffic safety interventions such as speed bumps on residential streets, with such projects prioritized by safety and equity criteria.