In early March, crews with the Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT) started preparing underground infrastructure ahead of updating sidewalk corners along NE Glisan Street as part of the planned NE Glisan Pave and Paint Project. The updates will use the pavement maintenance budget to restripe and reconfigure the roadway from NE 82nd to 92nd avenues. Ahead of the planned summer work, contractors will begin rebuilding crossing points to Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) compliant standards for curb ramps and updating stormwater catch basin placement to match the new ramps and better handle rainwater runoff.
The first wave of work closed the outer travel lane on eastbound NE Glisan Street from the 82nd Avenue Burgerville parking lot’s entrance up to 85th Avenue. In street excavation barricades and heavy equipment block NE 84th Avenue at NE Glisan, requiring vehicles and pedestrians to take a detour in the area. A new maintenance hole cone sits on the side street, awaiting installation just below the road’s surface.
Pavement markings added to NE Glisan Street along the project path in January indicate the placement of new curb ramps and stormwater inlets. Nearly every corner that hasn’t already been updated needs improvements to assist people trying to cross this stretch of roadway, which has few marked crossings. Up to now, anyone crossing the busy east-west street has had limited curb ramp options. PBOT will need to complete sidewalk and in-road updates before major roadwork takes place, as the repaving project will repair the asphalt cuts made by crews, creating new sidewalk corners and stormwater management at the street’s edge. People can expect that work to take place this Spring.
PBOT planners anticipate that much of the in-traffic lane work will take place in the Summer of 2026, when crews use heavy equipment to grind down old asphalt and spread a new layer of aggregate bound with bitumen to create a smoother driving surface. Contractors will repaint the lane markings in a new configuration to support painted buffered-bike lanes along the curb for much of the project length. This section of NE Glisan Street implemented alternating outer lanes used for parking or an auxiliary travel lane, depending on the time of day. Collisions occurred on this street where cars were parked, but drivers may have assumed the outer lane was clear. PBOT engineers anticipate that removing that conflict point will yield significant safety improvements with minimal impact on vehicle throughput. This work will also increase safer bike and pedestrian infrastructure in the area this year, while later project work can build on the new configuration with hardened street elements for greater safety.
This stretch of NE Glisan received an Oregon Metro Regional Flexible Funds Allocation grant to add physically protected bike infrastructure sometime in 2030. The work included in the Northeast Glisan St: 82nd Avenue Multimodal Safety and Access project would require lane reconfiguration and repainting. PBOT Planners feel that this 2026 road surface maintenance presents an opportunity to save public funds by reconfiguring the street during the post-asphalt-work painting process, years before the larger safety improvement project. By doing road marking work now in the new configuration, PBOT can save taxpayer funds by lessening the reconfiguration costs four years later.
Travelers should anticipate construction on sidewalks and in the roadway along NE Glisan Street from NE 82nd to 92nd avenues as crews rebuild pedestrian and stormwater infrastructure. People walking in the area should anticipate detours when demolition and construction work ramp up. Drivers in the area should expect temporary outer lane closures on NE Glisan during construction, followed by permanent outer lane closures after crews paint new lane markings. Crews will work to maintain access to business and residential driveways. Details are available on the project website.
Correction: NE 84th Avenue was incorrectly identified as SE 84th Avenue.
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