News Release: PBOT breaks ground on key segments of East Portland streets designed for walking and biking

News Article
Project on SE 87th and SE 75th streets is funded by Fixing Our Streets
Published
SE 75th Place, just south of Flavel Park, will be transformed from a gravel street to a fully paved road with a sidewalk on the east side of the street. Photo by PBOT.
SE 75th Place, just south of Flavel Park, will be transformed from a gravel street to a fully paved road with a sidewalk on the east side of the street. Photo by PBOT.

(July 21, 2020) Construction begins next week on the Springwater Connecter Neighborhood Greenway, a Fixing Our Streets-funded project. When completed, the project will allow Portlanders to travel on a neighborhood greenway – a street designed especially for biking and walking – between the Springwater Corridor in the south to the 80s Neighborhood Greenway and the future 70s Neighborhood Greenway (to be constructed in 2021 and 2022) to the Cully neighborhood in NE Portland.

Investing $2.1 million, the project will completely refurbish two gravel streets – SE 87th Avenue between SE Flavel Street and the Springwater Corridor and SE 75th Place between SE Lambert Street and SE Crystal Springs Boulevard. The gravel streets, which are often rutted and full of potholes, will be paved and sidewalks will be built. As part of the project, PBOT’s contractor will also construct a paved path along the eastern edge of Flavel Park, a paved path connection to the Springwater Corridor at SE 87th Avenue, new crosswalks on SE Flavel Street at Flavel Park and SE 78th Avenue, and traffic calming along the 70s Greenway route on SE 75th Avenue, SE Harney Street and SE 77th Avenue.

Springwater Connector Neighborhood Greenway Project Map

Construction will begin at SE 87th Avenue at the Springwater Corridor and will move to Flavel Park in September. The project is anticipated to be complete by early 2021.

During construction, detours and closures for people walking, biking or driving will be minor. The Springwater Corridor will be narrowed with cones and signs at SE 87th Avenue and the paved path to the Flavel Park playground will be detoured onto a plywood boardwalk accessible to people with disabilities. The paving of SE 87th Avenue and SE 75th Place will require street closures, but residential access will be maintained. The installation of new pedestrian crossings on SE Flavel Street will require closing a lane with flaggers to maintain 2-way traffic. Subscribe to construction updates by email at https://public.govdelivery.com/accounts/ORPORTLAND/subscriber/new?topic_id=ORPORTLAND_323.

The construction contractor is Interlaken, Inc., a certified woman-owned business enterprise (WBE) and disadvantaged business enterprise (DBE), and participant in the city’s Prime Contractor Development Program. The project has a 100% utilization rate of certified D/M/W/ESB/SDVBE (Disadvantaged, Minority-Owned, Women-Owned, Emerging Small Businesses, Service-Disabled Veterans Business Enterprises) firms.

The Prime Contractor Development Program (PCDP) is an initiative through the City of Portland that creates contracting opportunities for state certified D/M/W/ESB/SDVBE (Disadvantaged, Minority-Owned, Women-Owned, Emerging Small Businesses, Service-Disabled Veterans Business Enterprises) firms. Participating contractors receive technical assistance in different areas of work (water, street and park improvement etc.), as well as educational opportunities (job costing, bidding, estimating, etc.). While these certified contractors certainly benefit from participating in the PCDP, city bureaus also benefit by having access to a pool of contractors that has historically been underutilized. To learn more about the PCDP, click here

The total project cost is $2.1M and includes funds from Fixing Our Streets (approved by voters in 2016), Transportation System Development Charges, and the Lents Town Center Urban Renewal Area (administered by Prosper Portland).

Learn more about the Springwater Connector Neighborhood Greenway on the project website at https://www.portland.gov/transportation/policy-and-planning/construction/springwater-connector-neighborhood-greenway.

Sign up for email updates at https://public.govdelivery.com/accounts/ORPORTLAND/subscriber/new?topic_id=ORPORTLAND_323


Special note regarding Covid-19 and construction work

PBOT has been in modified operations since March 17 and has implemented specific measures to ensure the safety of our crews and contractors. This includes modified shifts, social distancing, and other precautions based on current guidelines from local, state, and federal health officials. Thank you for giving our crews and contractors the space and time they need to keep our city moving.


This project was paid for by Fixing Our Streets