Just under several inches of NE Glisan Street asphalt lie the remnants of Portland’s once-extensive streetcar network. Crews working with the Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT) uncovered small sections of steel rails laid flush with red clay bricks where they will soon pour the concrete for pedestrian crossing median islands. Two of the three excavated areas, at NE 84th and NE 87th Avenues, sit above the single-track segment of the Glisan Street line that extended from the double track at NE 80th Avenue to the 90th Avenue terminus.
This summer, road crews began work on NE Glisan Street between NE 82nd and NE 92nd avenues. Post-repaving and painting, street users encountered new traffic patterns and slower speeds as re-striping teams added painted bike lanes and PBOT posted new 25 mph speed limit signs. Now, work on the Fixing Our Streets-funded NE Glisan Paving and Safety Project has moved to construction on two new enhanced pedestrian crossings and the expansion of existing infrastructure at another location.
NE Glisan Street, from Interstate 205 to 82nd Avenue, is a notoriously challenging roadway to cross with vehicles driving quickly between the two points. Without any fully signalized intersections on this stretch, and with a large hill blocking visibility, it can take an extended period to find a safe break in traffic to cross. Crews working with PBOT will install two new pedestrian crossings with concrete median islands at NE 84th and 90th Avenues, along with enhancements to an existing crossing at NE 87th Avenue. These in-roadway waypoints allow pedestrians to cross in two phases, focusing on one direction of traffic at a time, and help drivers better see a person waiting at the high-visibility infrastructure.
In many similar projects, crews dig below the road surface when creating median islands with cutouts at street level. This lets them build a stable platform that doesn’t require ramps or steps but stays protected by a raised curb. Often, crews build this on the crushed rock base below the asphalt top layers, but in this case it can sit atop the 1911-era Glisan Street rail extension brickwork. The NE 90th Avenue crossing does not have street rail under it, as NE Glisan was reconstructed here a decade ago to remove a railway crossing bridge that had been under the roadway.
Although existing track runs under Portland streets, like NE Glisan Street, it is likely impractical to reuse it for modern transportation. These tracks are no longer at street level, and exposing them would create a shallow trench down the street, making it hard for pedestrians and other vehicles to cross. The historic streetcar service ended for Montavilla and all of Portland in 1948, so these tracks were covered for decades and cut in places to run utility lines underground. Also, modern light rail equipment can be heavier than older rolling stock, so the track base may not support contemporary use. However, until cement masons return to these two crossings, people can look into the ground and see remnants of trolley legacy that sit just below the surface.
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