Road crews met the rising sun on March 29th, preparing for a weekend of asphalt work in the Gateway District. Over the last several months, contractors working with the Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT) have built a new road segment reconnecting Portland’s street grid east of Interstate 205 and between East Burnside and NE Glisan Streets. Crews have already covered most of the new roadway’s surface with an asphalt binder layer formed with larger aggregate over a sub-base of crushed rocks. Crews leveled the oil-bound base just below the concrete gutter’s edge to allow space for the bitumen-laden topcoat made of finer rocks, creating a smooth surface that fights water penetration.
This work is one of the final steps before the new segment of NE Davis Street and the reconstructed section of NE 97th Avenue open for traffic. Sidewalks are nearly complete, with street trees planted and traffic signs ready to guide drivers through the new traffic patterns. Motorists have not had access through NE 97th from East Burnside Street for months as work in the area was underway. After it reopens, southbound drivers will need to adjust their behavior, unable to continue past NE Davis Street as the reconstructed road is one-way northbound from East Burnside to NE Davis Street. People will instead need to head east to NE 99th Avenue to turn right onto East Burnside Street.
This traffic pattern better aligns with the complex track crossing at East Burnside and 97th Avenue. The Max Blue Line tracks turn 90 degrees eastward at this junction from an I-205 alignment to tracks situated between East Burnside Street. Although past traffic signals warned drivers of a light rail crossing conflict, nothing could prevent a driver from making a right turn into the way of an approaching train obscured until the last moment by a freeway sound wall. Bicycle and pedestrian crossings at this point have changed so that westbound people outside of cars can cross at the midpoint of the MAX track turn radius. This placement allows greater conflict visibility for train operators and the people crossing. The realignment also makes a better connection point for the I-205 Multiuse path that runs along the freeway sound wall at this segment of the multimodal route.
When the streets fully reopen later this year, people will enjoy the wider sidewalks with a multitude of street trees, extended curbs for shorter crosswalks, and modern streets. The area has new street lights for nighttime safety and plenty of curbside parking spaces. What is missing is the intended redevelopment for this area, which city planners hoped would create a second downtown in the Gateway District. Outside several affordable housing projects built in the area and transit upgrades, few large-scale projects have broken ground, and some property owners have placed their holdings in the area for sale.
Street grid work in this area will continue eastward, with another block of NE Davis Street planned from NE 99th Avenue to 100th Avenue. People accessing NE 97th Avenue will notice a closed-off eastward street stub between NE Davis Street and East Burnside Street for a future one-block segment of NE Couch Street. Those new streets are part of the second phase of the NE 97th Avenue Phase II and Couch/Davis Street Local Improvement District (LID). Money for the LID comes from adjacent property owners and tax increment financing from the Gateway Urban Renewal Area, with some additional funding paid by transportation system development charges collected from other developments. PBOT will cover overhead costs related to managing the project components.
Crews have closed East Burnside Street from 94th Avenue to 99th Avenue for weekend roadwork in addition to the months-long closures related to this work. Detours will remain in place on East Burnside through 5 a.m. on Monday, March 31st. Continuing evening work will close this section of East Burnside for three nights from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. April 2nd through the 4th. People should anticipate delays and obey instructions on signs or from the crew on site.
