In late March and into April, crews working with the Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT) began preparing sections of the Jade District for the Jade and Montavilla Multimodal Improvements Project, which will replace gravel streets and under-built pedestrian routes with new paved roads and sidewalks. This work will improve access along SE 85th Avenue and SE Clinton Street for all road users in the area and give people traveling outside a car the calmer parallel path to 82nd Avenue that residents have requested for years.
The first phase of work happens below ground before crews begin work on the pavement or sidewalks. Gravel roads and streets without curbs often lack stormwater management. Surrounding soil at the street’s edge absorbs rainwater runoff from impervious surfaces on those streets. Before crews construct a curb and sidewalk, workers must lay a network of pipes to collect stormwater and direct it away from the sidewalk into a sump for ground absorption or a water treatment system. Heavy equipment is on-site, ready to place the large precast concrete maintenance hole and sump segments into their subterranean locations. Stacks of blue PVC pipes line the streets staged for workers to use when connecting stormwater catch basins to the rainwater handling system.
After workers establish the network of underground pipes, crews will create sidewalks from SE Division Street to SE Powell Boulevard along SE 85th Avenue, with roadway repaving between SE Clinton and Brooklyn Streets. This project will also add new sidewalks on SE Clinton Street from SE 84th to 87th Avenues, with crews converting the existing gravel road to a modern street surface from SE 84th Place to 87th Avenue. West of 82nd Avenue, SE Tibbetts Street will receive sidewalk infill where some blocks lack consistent pedestrian pavement down to SE 78th Avenue. Most sidewalks in the project area will receive updated Americans with Disabilities Act-compliant curb ramps. Road crews will also repave SE Tibbetts Street from SE 78th to 80th Avenues.
Portlanders living in this area have requested these projects for years. The gravel sections of SE Clinton Street are well-traveled, creating dust clouds in the summer or a muddy mess in the winter. Pedestrians and cars often compete for the same space, making local access inconvenient. This work is part of a larger project that will add bike lanes on SE Thorburn and Washington Streets, along with other pedestrian safety upgrades. Money for these improvements comes from $3,200,000 in Federal funds, with an additional $4,900,000 from the 2021 American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) allocations. PBOT will source the remaining $994,000 from System Development Charges (SDCs) paid by developers. Portland must spend grant money on the projects they were awarded instead of maintenance. However, the improvements made here also reduce some of the maintenance backlog without tapping into the general budget and should be a net positive for all street users.
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