What's Happening Now
Construction Update: June 2023
June 2023 will feature the final paving of SW Capitol Highway, followed by striping work. The week of June 5-9 will be particularly busy, with significant impacts to travel and access. Pavement grinding is scheduled for June 5-6, followed by final asphalt paving June 7-9. Vehicular access on SW Capitol Highway will be very limited during this week - the project team is contacting residents of the immediate corridor to make alternate arrangements. People walking and biking will have nearly full access to the corridor during the paving work, and construction crews will accommodate emergency access, school buses, waste pickup, and deliveries. All other traffic will be directed to the SW 45th/48th detour route.
The new asphalt will be drivable after a few hours, but striping of the centerline must wait two weeks for full asphalt curing. This means two-way traffic and TriMet buses are likely to return to SW Capitol Highway in the second half of June, ending the detour that has been in place for 22 months.
Late June into early July will feature thermoplastic striping, including the double yellow centerline, marked pedestrian crossings at bus stops, green conflicting striping for protected bike lanes, and pavement legends that provide guidance where people walking and biking should be positioned. The improvements at SW Multnomah Boulevard and 40th Avenue will also be completed during this final stage, including the left turn signal phase, and protected walkway/bikeways on Multnomah between 40th and 45th. The contractor will then move on to final "punch list" items such as remaining property frontage details.
All work is anticipated to be complete by the end of July, at which point the contractor will demobilize its construction yard at the Sears Armory. We thank Southwest Portlanders for their patience and understanding over these past two years!
Save the Date! July 1, 11am
The city will host a ribboncutting ceremony on Saturday, July 1, 2023, celebrating the substantial completion of the project. Commissioner Mingus Mapps will provide some remarks. The event will take place at 11:00am at the intersection of SW Capitol Highway and Garden Home Road.
Construction to Date:
The City of Portland's contractor Landis & Landis Construction, LLC began major construction work on June 14, 2021 along SW Capitol Highway. A detour of southbound traffic began on August 18, 2021 and will last through June 2023. See our FAQ page about the detour.
The first full year of construction on the project saw installation of over 7,000 linear feet of stormwater pipe, over 3,000 linear feet of earthquake-resistant water main, three out of four large stormwater treatment gardens, and 13 roadside retaining walls.
The second year of construction - starting in June 2022 - focused on constructing the sidewalks, curbs, driveway and side street connections, and base paving. Trees and shrubs were planted in the winter and spring of 2023, and the remaining stormwater garden at Dolph Court was completed.
Scroll further down to sign up for detailed construction updates that we send every two weeks.
2021 Virtual Open Houses:
A live presentation and Q&A session took place on Zoom the evening of Thursday, June 10th, 2021. You can watch the video here.
Construction news and project updates
SW Strolls:
Join other local residents for SW Strolls, PBOT's new walking series highlighting ways to get around the neighborhood including the reconstructed SW Capitol Highway. The walk is held on the first Saturday of each month, starting at the south side of Gabriel Park. Check out the event page for more information and sign up for the SW Strolls Newsletter.
Project Description
Below is a map of the main features of the project. Scroll past the map for a more detailed description.
This project is improving safety and mobility for all modes of travel, addressing stormwater management, protecting water quality in local streams, and updating water supply infrastructure to meet modern demands. Portland’s Bureau of Transportation, Bureau of Environmental Services, and Water Bureau are working on the project together to reduce costs, improve efficiency, and enhance service delivery to the Portland community.
The project is adding a continuous sidewalk and protected bike lane on the east side of SW Capitol Highway, and a multi-use path on the west side of the street, from SW Taylors Ferry Road to SW Garden Home Road. The project is collecting and conveying stormwater runoff through inlets and pipes to four new stormwater treatment and detention basins located nearby. The project is also upgrading the SW Capitol Highway water main to a larger, more seismically-resilient pipe between SW Marigold Street and SW Garden Home Road, with additional main replacement on SW Carson Street.
Please note that this project involves traffic detours. Starting in August 2021, all southbound traffic on SW Capitol Highway was diverted to SW 45th and 48th Avenues via SW Garden Home Road, and returning to SW Capitol Highway via SW Taylors Ferry Road. This includes TriMet buses. This detour will remain in place through June 2023 to help the contractor complete the project in a more safe, efficient fashion. In addition, northbound traffic and TriMet buses often have to be detoured during work hours for contractors to safely perform work. PBOT will issue Traffic Advisories in advance of major traffic changes.
Project Background
Providing sidewalks and bike lanes on this segment of SW Capitol Highway has been a community priority for nearly 30 years. This segment, between SW Garden Home Road and SW Taylors Ferry Road, hosts over 8,000 vehicles per day, is served by TriMet’s #44 bus line, and currently has no sidewalks, bike lanes, pedestrian crossings or standard stormwater facilities.
The city’s project development process for this corridor began with the Capitol Highway Plan in 1996 and continued with the SW Capitol Highway Plan Refinement Report in 2011 and the Capitol Highway Corridor Stormwater Concept Design in 2016. In each of these cases, the city faced challenges in developing a buildable project with limited funding and challenging physical constraints.
In 2016 and 2017 sufficient funding came together from the voter-approved "Fixing Our Streets" ten-cent gas tax, development charges, Environmental Services, Water Bureau, and the State of Oregon, allowing the project to advance. The project team worked closely with the community from 2016 through 2020 to refine the design and discuss property and neighborhood impacts and benefits.
Project Funding
This joint PBOT-BES-PWB project is funded through the Fixing Our Streets city gas tax, Transportation System Development Charges, Oregon Lottery-backed bonds authorized by the 2017 State Legislature, Bureau of Environmental Services funds, and Water Bureau funds. Fixing Our Streets is contributing roughly $6.6 million of the total project budget of $30 million, making this the largest project funded by the Fixing Our Streets program. The amended construction contract value is approximately $19 million, with remaining funds attributed to planning, design engineering, right-of-way acquisition, project management, and construction management and inspection.