Division-Midway Neighborhood Street Improvement Project

Construction type: Transportation

Project status: Engineering and design

What’s Happening Now?

Due to budget shortfalls, this project was put on hold while PBOT sought additional funding. Additional funding has now been secured and the project has resumed design. 

Project Background

In 2016 City Council adopted the Local Transportation Infrastructure Charge (LTIC), a fee that developers pay along unimproved streets in single-family zoning areas as an alternative to constructing sidewalks. Council then directed PBOT staff to develop an investment strategy for these funds. Using a methodology that included equity, effectiveness and efficiency, staff developed and Council adopted a strategy to invest collected LTIC funds in three areas: Cully in northeast Portland, Division-Midway in outer southeast Portland, and the Tryon-Stephens headwaters area in southwest Portland. These three areas had high needs in terms of unimproved streets that serve as important routes to neighborhood destinations, and underserved populations including high proportions of people of color, people with lower incomes, and people that rent their homes. The three areas also had neighborhood street plans adopted by City Council, identifying locations for investment.

In the Division-Midway area, which includes portions of the Powellhurst-Gilbert and Mill Park neighborhoods, the goal of the project is to strategically improve a subset of streets that lead to important destinations such as parks, schools, and transit, particularly in areas with lower incomes. Several of these streets, such as SE 130^th Avenue and SE 117^th Avenue, see more traffic than a typical local street and will need separated sidewalks. Other streets in the area have a gravel surface and will be paved with asphalt.

Project Scope

The project scope includes sidewalks, paving, and and storm water management on the following streets:

• SE 117th Avenue from SE Division Street to SE Market Street (sidewalk on one side)
• SE 115th Ave from SE Brooklyn Street to West Powellhurst Park (sidewalk on one side)
• SE Woodward Street from 112th Avenue to 115th Avenue (sidewalk on one side, pavement)
• SE Brooklyn St from SE 115th Avenue to SE 116th Avenue (sidewalk on one side)
• SE Rhone Street from SE 129th Avenue to SE 130th Avenue (pavement)
• SE 130th Street from Holgate Blvd to just north of SE Rhone Street (sidewalk on one side)
• SE Center Street from SE 130th Avenue to SE 132nd Avenue (sidewalk on one side)

SE 117th Avenue is an emergency fire route. In order to maintain clearance for emergency vehicles after the sidewalk is constructed it will be necessary to remove parking from one side of the street.

Timeline:

Topographic surveying: Summer 2021 – Fall 2022

Design, engineering and public outreach: Began in Fall 2022. Design was paused and resumed in Fall 2025. 

Construction: Tentatively scheduled for summer 2027 
 

Community Outreach

The project team will be notifying impacted neighbors and property owners as we progress with design. Schools and district staff will also be notified and kept up-to-date about the project. Schools near the planned improvements include: Mill Park Elementary School, West Powellhurst Elementary, and Gilbert Heights Elementary. 

Project Funding

PBOT has secured funding from the Portland Clean Energy Fund to complete this project. 

Most of the original project funding comes from LTIC as described above. Other funding on the project includes:

• Transportation System Development Charges: Fees paid to PBOT when people develop new homes and other buildings
• General Fund: Discretionary city funds authorized by City Council, under the banner of the “Up Out of the Mud” initiative
• Portland Bureau of Environmental Services: PBOT is in a partnership with BES due to the need to upgrade stormwater management infrastructure in the project area

Additional Resources

Division-Midway Neighborhood Street Plan

Outer Division Multimodal Safety Project

Division Transit Project (TriMet)

Outer Powell Safety Project (ODOT)