The Portland Bureau of Transportation’s Ross Swanson told the Multnomah Neighborhood Association in August that he hopes to deliver a modified version of the Capitol Highway Plan in six to nine months.
The project, which was first proposed in 1996 at a cost of $12 million, would add sidewalks and bicycle lanes to the street between Garden Home Road and Taylors Ferry Road. The 1.1 mile stretch of redevelopment would affect the Hillsdale, Multnomah, Ashcreek, and Crestwood neighborhoods.
“Reasons for the community’s concerns about Capitol Highway become obvious to anyone who attempts to walk or bike along the roadway,” states the original plan, citing narrow traffic lanes, lack of sidewalks, and uncontrolled intersections as problems.
“In the months ahead we’re going to confirm that the neighborhoods still want this and make note of any changes in what you want,” Swanson, who is managing the project, said at the meeting.
Some environmental mandates created in the 13 years since the original project proposal will make change necessary to the final plan, such as new storm water guidelines that require storm water to be treated at its source.
Swanson promised to engage the four neighborhoods on these changes as well as more subjective concerns, including working to save significant trees and homeowners’ landscapes that have been developed into the public right-of-way. The plan would require the city to use most of its right-of-way in creating the bike lanes, sidewalks, and planted areas along the two-lane road.
Swanson named the Parametrics Group as the consultants with the winning bid for the project and the local business Nevue Ngan as the landscapers. MNA Chairman Randy Bonella praised the transportation bureau’s choice of Parametrics Group.
“They have a more intimate knowledge of how we feel about our streets because some of them actually live here,” he said.
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