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Label:
Transportation
Label:
In planning
The Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT) will be addressing major deficiencies and improving comfort and access for people walking, biking, and taking transit along and across 148th Avenue.
Project planning in Spring and Summer 2025. Construction expected in 2028-2029.
PBOT was recently awarded $7.1 million from Metro to fund safety improvements along 148th Avenue, and project development is now underway. The 148th Avenue Project will build approximately eight new pedestrian crossings and enhance comfort and access for people walking, biking, and taking transit along and across the corridor. These upgrades also support the new TriMet bus service that launched in June 2025.
Stay tuned for opportunities to get involved and share your input on the future of 148th Avenue. Construction is expected to take place in 2028–2029.
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Project Overview
New pedestrian crossings are coming to 148th Avenue!
By adding more safe crossing places for all roadway users, the corridor becomes safer and easier to navigate.
New crossings are planned at:
- NE Couch
- Midblock between E Burnside and SE Stark
- SE Alder
- SE Taylor
- SE Market
- SE Lincoln
- SE Grant
- SE Clinton
Project Context and Background:
This section of 148th Avenue runs through vibrant Portland neighborhoods with high equity needs and serves as an important link between the Rosewood/Glenfair and Division Neighborhood Centers.
Improvements to this corridor have been prioritized in both the Regional Transportation Plan (RTP) and the Portland Transportation System Plan (TSP). Although 148th Avenue is designated as a Major City Bikeway and Major City Walkway in the TSP, it currently has substandard bike facilities, missing sidewalk segments, ADA ramp deficiencies, and limited safe crossing opportunities. Additionally, the intersections at SE 148th and SE Stark and at SE 148th and SE Powell Boulevard are listed among the city's top 30 High Crash Intersections. The improvements have strong public support from community partners, including the East Portland Action Plan and The Rosewood Initiative.
Why 148th Avenue?
148th Avenue is one of Portland's most dangerous streets. It's part of a "High Injury Corridor" identified by Metro, with major intersections like Division, Burnside, Stark, and Powell seeing frequent serious and fatal crashes. Since 2010, nine people have died traveling on 148th Avenue, including pedestrians and a person biking.
The street has outdated infrastructure: unsafe crossings, poor bike lanes, wide intersections, and missing ADA ramps. This project will make it safer for people walking, biking, and taking transit - goals supported by Portland's Transportation System Plan and community feedback. It won't affect driving, but there will be some changes to on-street parking.
What about paving 148th Avenue?
This project is funded by a Metro grant specifically for safety upgrades - not for repaving. Unfortunately, PBOT's funds for paving are separate, very limited, and stretched thin since the pandemic. However, as a result of feedback we heard from the community during project outreach, we now plan to include strategic paving in this project, as funding allows.
We wish we could repave all of 148th Ave too, but those funds aren’t available. Still, we’re moving forward to address urgent safety needs - especially for kids getting to school- while the funding is here.
Project Design Details:
PBOT proposes adding buffered or protected bike lanes between SE Powell Boulevard and NE Halsey Street, while preserving on‑street parking on one side of the street where possible. We will also build enhanced pedestrian crossings with median islands at key locations.
These upgrades will connect seamlessly with several other safety projects, including a neighborhood greenway crossing at SE 148th Avenue and SE Mill Street, the recently constructed protected intersection at SE 148th and SE Division Street, a funded protected intersection at SE 148th and SE Stark Street, and planned safety improvements at SE 148th Avenue and SE Powell Boulevard.
Parts of this document were drafted with the support of ChatGPT. The content was edited and fact-checked by city staff
Public Engagement
Spring/Summer 2025 Outreach
Survey
Thanks to all who completed the survey, reached out via phone or email, or attended a meeting or walk on this project. You can view the survey summary at the link below. We took the feedback we heard and have made some adjustments to the project design concept. Here is what we heard from those engagements and how the comments changed the design:
- General support for the project overall.
- Support for crossing locations with some helpful feedback.
- Some are concerned about Lincoln and Grant crossings being too close together. They are on the Safe Routes to Schools priority investment routes and are important routes to the nearby Elementary schools so keeping both crossings is a priority.
- Concern that turning would be impacted by pedestrian refuge islands.
- Change: Adjusted crossing medians to maintain center lane for easier left turns where possible.
- Concerns about project not discouraging speeding, desire for more traffic calming and enforcement.
- Change: Adding speed reader boards to help with traffic calming and median island gateway treatments to slow speeds where feasible/needed.
- Concerns about parking needs and some helpful feedback on where it could/should be removed.
- Change: Maintained parking on at least one side of the street and moved parking to the side requested by residents.
- Desire for bike lanes to have physical protection and bigger bike buffers.
- Change: Added traffic separators and parking protected bike lanes where possible.
- Desire for adequate street lighting at new crossings.
- Change: Re-scoped project by moving budget from a signal upgrade at Mill Street (no longer warranted) to add more street lighting at each crossing.
- Desire for traffic signals and concern that people won't stop for people crossing.
- Signals were not a part of the grant application or agreement and are not in the project budget. Also, many of the crossing locations would not warrant a new signal. Signals are expensive and our design should help make people crossing more visible and comfortable.
- Dislike of project overall, and concern that it's a waste of tax dollars, would rather see potholes fixed and streets repaved.
- This is a grant funded project and is in the Regional Transportation Plan and the City of Portland Transportation System Plan. We are adding pavement repair and repaving at some of the crossings where the pavement is in poor condition.
Draft Design
View the March 2026 draft design
Our design shifts based on the street width which changes throughout the corridor. The eight new crossings are located at:
- NE Couch St.
- Midblock between E Burnside and SE Stark St.
- SE Alder Ct.
- SE Taylor Ct.
- SE Market Ct.
- SE Lincoln St.
- SE Grant St.
- SE Clinton St.
The new crossings will all have stripes, signs, new street lighting, and ADA accessible curb ramps. Some will have concrete center median islands, and some corners will be rebuilt to make slightly wider curbs and have floating island curb extensions to provide more protection and to shorten the crossing distance.
We heard clearly from the community about the need to balance residents' parking needs with improving the bike lane. As a result, the project maintains parking on one or both sides of the street throughout the corridor. The bike lane will include physical protection on the non‑parking side and at key intersections, with added buffers on the parking side. South of Division Street, the roadway is wide enough to allow parking‑protected bike lanes on both sides of the street.
Please note that two separate projects are underway at the intersections of 148th and SE Powell Boulevard (an Oregon Department of Transportation project) and at 148th and SE Stark Street. These intersection redesigns are not shown on our project's map.
If you have ADA disabled parking needs on 148th Ave, please get in touch with us to discuss as soon as possible. If you have any questions or concerns about this project, please contact us at the email or phone number at the top right of this page.
View the March 2026 draft designView the March 2026 draft design
Past Engagement Events
- Postcards mailed to all area residents, business and property owners May 2025
- Rosewood Initiative Festival tabling June 14, 2025
- East County Juneteenth Celebration at Vance Park June 21, 2025
- Sunflower Neighborhood Fair at Maidan Plaza June 22, 2025
- Guerreras Latinas Safe Systems Training and project briefing July 2, 2025
- East Portland Sunday Parkways at Parklane Park tabling July 27, 2025
- East Portland Sunday Parkways at Parklane Park tabling July 27, 2025
- Rosewood Initiative leadership briefing July 31, 2025
- Centennial Neighborhood Association presentation and community walk August 7,2025
- Play Grow Learn People's Market tabling August 17, 2025
- People's Picnic Parklane Park Tabling, August 24, 2026
- Picnic in the Park at Lents Park tabling August 31, 2025
- PBOT Pedestrian Advisory Committee presentation September 16,2025
- Multi-cultural Kids Festival at Ventura Park tabling September 7, 2025
- East Portland Chamber of Commerce presentation October 15, 2025
- Division Midway Alliance Holiday Bazaar Tabling December 6, 2025
- District 1 Land Use and Transportation meeting presentation January 26, 2026