The City of Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT) has been asked by the Boise Neighborhood Association to help develop strategies to manage parking in North and Northeast Portland.
Last updated May 2025
Draft Strategies
The comment period for the N/NE Parking Management Plan draft strategies closed on April 28. Staff is currently reviewing and incorporating feedback. When the final draft plan is available, staff will post the document here and will email all who signed up for email updates.
The N/NE Parking Management Plan is slated to go to Council on September 3, 2025
In the meantime, view the draft strategies (April 2025 version)
Project Background and Study Area
The Boise Neighborhood Association asked the Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT) to do a comprehensive parking management plan for the neighborhood (including portions of Eliot, Humboldt, and King). The project kicked off in 2022.
There has been extensive growth in the neighborhood since the initial projects kicked off, and is not slowing. The WNBA team will kick off their season at Moda Center in spring 2026 and new mixed-use development slated for the Williams corridor, including two at Russell Street.
The original Boise Parking Management Plan has been extended further into the Eliot neighborhood south to Schuyler Street and has been renamed to the N/NE Parking Management Plan.
Expanding the boundary of the existing plan ensures PBOT doesn’t have to go back to the drawing board with community members or city council. However, this doesn’t mean PBOT will apply the same parking management strategies everywhere within the district. PBOT will be guided by parking data, community input, and goals identified by the Boise and Eliot neighborhoods.
- Physical and Psychological Safety
- Balance Between Users
- Ensure Displaced Residents Feel Welcome
The N/NE Parking Management Plan is guided by a joined Boise Parking Stakeholder Advisory Committee and the Eliot Parking Task Force.
What We Learned
Through a parking assessment of the neighborhood we learned that Mississippi, Vancouver, and Williams are extremely parked up with cars, like residents and employees, that are staying approximately 4 hours. This is not the parking behavior we want to see on a commercial corridor that needs continual turnover to support the local businesses.
What We Heard
In 2023, two surveys were administered to gauge perspectives on parking in the neighborhood. Through the surveys the big takeaways included hesitation to visit the area due to parking constraint and a preference for priced, convenient parking over congested, free parking.
Next Steps
Once input is received on the N/NE Parking Management Plan draft strategies, staff will incorporate feedback and prepare the final plan. Save the date for the final project stakeholder advisory committee on May 6 and City Council on September 3!
Sign up here for project updates!
Implementation
In parallel, implementation of initial tasks will begin this summer on Mississippi, Vancouver and Williams Avenues up to Skidmore.Time limits on these commercial streets will be standardized with 2-hour limits on the north/south streets and 4-hour limits on the east/west cross streets where the land use supports. 5-, 15-, and 30-minute time limits will remain in front of businesses where necessary. Parking will be removed at uncontrolled intersections to provide 20 feet of vision clearance for safety. Enforcement hours will change from 8 a.m.-6 p.m. to 10 a.m.-9 p.m.
Below are the corridors where changes and enforcement hours are being evaluated. More details and proposed changes are forthcoming. Implementation will begin in the summer.
Project Initiation
- 2014-2015 | Neighborhood participated in Centers & Corridors Parking Study
- 2018 | Portland City Council approves a new Parking Pilot Program.
- 2018 | The Boise Neighborhood Association (Boise NA) requested an area parking permit program, but failed to get enough votes.
- 2019 | Boise NA requested PBOT's help to develop a long-range parking plan.
- December 2019/January 2020 | PBOT & Boise & Humboldt Neighborhood Associations get started on planning scope.
- February/March 2020 | PBOT recruits parking consultants.
- April 2020 | Project put on hold due to COVID-19 pandemic.
- June 2022 | Boise NA support resuming the planning process.
- Fall 2022 | PBOT and consultants start on public involvement strategy.
- January 2023 | Recruitment for the Stakeholder Advisory Committee begins.
- April 2023 | Stakeholder Advisory Committee begins to meet.
- Spring 2023 - committee meetings begin; decide study area and hours
- Summer/Fall 2023 - conduct parking study and community survey; develop project goals; hold committee meetings
- Winter/Spring 2024 - hold corridor working group meetings; hold committee meetings
- Summer 2024 - draft parking management plan; focus groups and listening sessions
- Fall 2024 - resume committee meetings; open house
- Summer 2025 - Finalize plan; City Council hearing
Goals and benefits of parking management
The goal of parking management is to balance all the competing needs for on-street parking. Customers, commercial delivery drivers, and a growing population all need access to on-street parking.
Benefits of parking management include:
- Better livability for residents
- Better access to local businesses for customer and freight
- Less congestion and carbon emissions
- Better air quality and safety for everyone
- Less illegal parking and fewer blocked driveways with regular enforcement
Parking management videos
Two videos have been created to help explain why PBOT manages parking in Portland and the strategies that we use. The specific strategies chosen are tailored based off the needs of the neighborhood.
Contact Rae-Leigh Stark at 503-865-6244 or rae-leigh.stark@portlandoregon.gov with any questions.