At the end of July, some northbound drivers began using an alternate route to avoid the NE 60th Avenue and Halsey Street Area Improvement Project‘s construction site. Crews working for the Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT) recently reached a significant milestone on the west side of NE 60th Avenue, creating new wide-sidewalks and improved stormwater handling between NE Halsey and Holladay streets. Now that work has transitioned to the east side of the roadway, two-way traffic can no longer pass in the street, and drivers must detour around the now closed northbound NE 60th Avenue.
NE 60th Avenue is a frequently traveled road between NE Halsey and NE Glisan streets, offering people one of the limited number of overpasses across Interstate 84’s winding path through this neighborhood. Decades ago, contractors built the street with narrow curb-tight sidewalks. This street design allowed for 12-foot-wide vehicle travel lanes in each direction and ample parking on both sides of the street. As crucial as this street is for motorists navigating Portland, it also serves many pedestrians who must use it to access the NE 60th Avenue MAX light rail station adjacent to the freeway. Project planners expect the sidewalk widening and enhanced crossing points will help improve the overall safety and usability of the road while maintaining similar vehicle access.
This project will also add bike lanes on NE 60th Avenue from NE Oregon Street up to Hassalo Street, providing a critical I-84 crossing point for the 60s Neighborhood Greenway that City planners are constructing in segments across the city for enhanced non-motorist travel. The redesigned infrastructure will reduce some street parking as part of these improvements on NE 60th Avenue. Reconstructed sidewalks have curb extensions that push into the parking lane to make people waiting to cross the street more visible to drivers while remaining on the raised concrete. Curb extensions create pockets of curb parking spaces mid-block that are also protected from drivers by the extended concrete. That could entice more people to park on NE 60th Avenue, where fast-moving vehicles made street parking seem less desirable because of the risk of lane drift by drivers causing damage. The new narrower lanes and hard street infrastructure extending from the sidewalks may also induce vehicle speeds matching the posted 25 miles-per-hour limit, as similar narrowing infrastructure tends to curtail speeding.
Crews are currently excavating the east side of the street and removing sidewalks ahead of stormwater handling improvements. Reconstructed wider pedestrian zones will feature Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) compliant curb ramps, similar to the ones created on the west side of the street. Road crews will then repave the street, and street painters will add the lane striping and two high-visibility crosswalks planned for NE 60th Avenue. Funding for the $9.67 million project that extends west down NE Halsey Street to NE 47th Avenue comes from money allocated in House Bill 2017, Transportation System Development Charges, General Funds, and the Portland Clean Energy Fund (PCEF).
Northbound drivers on NE 60th Avenue can currently turn onto NE 61st Avenue north of the freeway to bypass the construction, but soon they will need to drive on NE Glisan Street to 47th Avenue or up NE Glisan to NE 67th Avenue when bypassing the road closure. Street parking is prohibited at the construction site while work is underway. TriMet bus line 71 riders should note that the transit provider closed stops in the construction area, and they will need to utilize other stops. Pedestrians will also need to navigate around construction zones and cross the street at places to find a safe travel path. PBOT expects this phase of construction to run through October 2025, but weather-related delays could change the schedule. PBOT encourages people to track the project updates on their website. Drivers should anticipate delays on NE Halsey Street and NE 60th Avenue until the crews complete the project in Summer 2026.
