(Dec. 15, 2020) Crews have begun work on the East Portland Access to Employment and Education project to provide workers and families of all incomes lower cost access to jobs, businesses and education opportunities. The $11 million project will build sidewalks, street crossings, bike lanes, paved paths, and other safety improvements in multiple neighborhoods of East Portland. It includes the 150s Neighborhood Greenway, the western portion of the 4M Neighborhood Greenway, and the 100s Neighborhood Greenway.
Project construction is currently focused on filling in sidewalk gaps on SE Cherry Blossom Drive where people walking will have a continuous east side sidewalk on between SE Washington Street and SE Market Street. There will also be a new crosswalk across SE Cherry Blossom Drive at SE 107th Avenue to improve access to medical services. Crews are also working on sidewalk infill on SE Market St between 92nd and 130th avenues, along the 4M Neighborhood Greenway, and will add approximately 75 new ADA ramps as part of the construction.
In addition to new, continuous sidewalks, the new street design on SE Cherry Blossom Drive will provide safer access for people walking, biking, driving or taking transit to community destinations like Floyd Light Middle School, Floyd Light Park, East Portland Community Center, and the East 102nd Avenue MAX station. Moreover, residents using TriMet line 15 will benefit from a transit island platform for easier boarding.
The East Portland Access to Employment and Education project will build the 100s Neighborhood Greenway from SE Powell Blvd to NE Knott St, adding 4.1 miles of low traffic streets and multiuse paths for people walking, biking, rolling and strolling. The three multiuse path segments are located at SE 108th Avenue near Powell, SE 106th Avenue between SE Division and Market Streets, and NE Wasco Street at NE 106th. All three multiuse paths will include new pedestrian scale lighting.
The project will also complete the western segment of the 4M Neighborhood Greenway on SE Market Street between 92nd and 130th avenues by adding new bike lanes in addition to new sidewalks. It also includes a restriping of NE Glisan Street between NE 102nd and 122nd avenues as part of the East Glisan Street Update. A new evaluation report on the initial striping changes on NE Glisan Street east of NE 122nd Avenue indicate an overall improvement in safety measures, including a significant reduction in top-end speeding, and little to no increase in average motor vehicle travel times (based on data collected prior to the Covid-19 pandemic). The full report is available on the East Glisan Street Update website.
Additionally, crews will construct the 150s Neighborhood Greenway from SE Powell Blvd to NE Halsey St, adding an additional 3.7 miles of low traffic streets and multiuse paths and creating a crucial north-south connection between Portland’s easternmost neighborhoods, jobs and schools including Reynolds School District’s Glenfair Elementary School. As part of the construction, PBOT will pave SE Morrison Street between SE 154th and 155th avenues to provide a more direct connection for people traveling on the greenway.
Lastly, the project will improve transit access at bus stops by installing or improving six new crossing signals on main streets streets including NE Halsey Street, NE Glisan Street, SE Stark Street, and SE Division Street. It will also install 94 new and culturally relevant wayfinding signs in East Portland for easier navigation for pedestrians and people biking and will plant 87 new trees within the project area. In all, the project will increase access to 13 parks and 15 schools in East Portland.
The East Portland Access to Employment and Education Project was developed from East Portland in Motion, an implementation strategy for active transportation projects east of 82nd Avenue. $5.3 million for this project is funded by a federal grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation, approved by Metro Council and disbursed through the Oregon Department of Transportation. Local match funding from PBOT from Transportation System Development Charges and general transportation revenue brings the total project budget to $11 million.
Learn more about the project and sign up for email updates at https://www.portland.gov/transportation/pbot-projects/construction/east-portland-access-employment-and-education-4m-100s-and.