City to accept $2 million in state funds for greenway that will parallel 82nd Avenue

Just one block makes a big difference. Here’s 82nd near SE Mill on the left and 80th near SE Mill — future Seventies Greenway Route — on the right.

At their City Council meeting tomorrow, Mayor Ted Wheeler and his colleagues will authorize an agreement with the Oregon Department of Transportation to put $2 million into city coffers for the design and construction of the Seventies Neighborhood Greenway.

The money comes from a federal grant distributed by ODOT through their Statewide Transportation Improvement Program, or STIP. The total project cost is estimated to be $5 million. Once completed the route will traverse over five miles of east Portland on a circuitous path parallel to 82nd Avenue, a major arterial (owned and managed by ODOT) that’s full of destinations. The final route is yet to be determined, but initial plans call for using a variety of low-traffic side-streets between 75th and 80th. The greenway boundary would be NE Sacramento and SE Flavel streets.

Here’s the current route map (green line):

Because this project is still in its initial stages, PBOT doesn’t have much information to offer at this point. What we do know is that the project will come with the typical array of greenway tools including: traffic calming infrastructure like speed bumps and medians, new crossing treatments, paving, and new signage and pavement markings. PBOT also plans to build a new multi-use path through the Rose City Golf Course in the project’s northern end to fill an existing gap in the bikeway.

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Here’s more from the City Council ordinance:

2. There are significant gaps in the City’s bikeway network that discourage riding bikes to work, school, shopping, etc. The Seventies Greenway project will address deficiencies in this corridor.

3. The project will address these deficiencies by filling in major gaps between safe and comfortable north-south pedestrian and bicycle routes in the City.

4. Specifically, the route will provide 11 enhanced crossing treatments such as curb extensions, island, RRFBs, cycle tracks, multiuse paths, etc. for pedestrian and bicyclists at busy streets and nearby schools.

While the ordinance says the design process for this project will start immediately upon passage, PBOT Communications Director John Brady told us this morning that it will likely start early next year.

If it’s done right, the Seventies Greenway could be a crucial link in the north-south network. It’s also just one of several east Portland bikeway projects in the works at the moment. PBOT has also started design on two east-west greenways, HOP (Gateway Transit Center to 128th) and 4M (Market, Mill, and Millmain); and two more north-south greenway on the 100s and 150s. Those projects are part of the $20 million East Portland Access to Employment & Education project.

— Jonathan Maus: (503) 706-8804, @jonathan_maus on Twitter and jonathan@bikeportland.org

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